Bernhard Grzimek

Actor · Director · Producer · Writer

Neisse, Silesia, Germany [now Nysa, Opolskie, Poland]

April 24, 1909

Biography

Bernhard Grzimek was a German veterinarian, zoologist, animal rights activist, and behavioral scientist, long-time director of Frankfurt Zoo, wildlife filmmaker, author and editor of animal books, an encyclopedia of the animal kingdom named after him, and president of the Frankfurt Zoological Society. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was Germany's best-known animal expert, regularly appearing on television programs for Hessischer Rundfunk. His documentary film Serengeti Shall Not Die was the first German film after World War II to win an Oscar in 1960. He initially published under the pseudonym Clemens Hoffbauer.