‘Hitler’ who played Heidi grandad dies

BRUNO GANZ, the actor who portrayed Adolf Hitler in the Oscar-nominated film Downfall and the kindly grandfather in Heidi, has died aged 77.

Ganz was widely praised for his performance in 2004’s Downfall, which dramatised the Nazi dictator’s last days in his Berlin bunker. He portrayed Hitler as a delusional madman, but also as a fatherly figure with Parkinson’s disease who fussed about his secretaries’ welfare. Immersing himself in the role affected the Swiss actor, who said he was haunted by it. ‘I tend to identify with my roles to such an extent that I appear to be totally convinced about certain statements that, in real life, I would never believe in,’ he said.