- Born
- Height5′ 11¾″ (1.82 m)
- Richter was already singing on the radio at the age of eight. From 1959 he was seen as an actor on the stage of the Berlin Renaissance Theater. He celebrated his first successes with recording radio plays. By the time he was ten, he had already worked on 30 productions. A first record and the first television and cinema films were also made. Richter started as a presenter at the age of 16 with the TV show "4-3-2-1 Hot & Sweet". Shortly afterwards he dropped out of school and became increasingly involved as a presenter, actor and screenwriter. In the following years, Richter made around 20 films. He stood in front of the camera with colleagues like Theo Lingen, Rudi Carrell and Hansi Kraus. Richter became a television star with the music show "Disco," which was broadcast on ZDF from 1971.
After the show proved to be a ratings hit, "Disco" was moved to the station's Saturday evening schedule in 1975. Richter was in a relationship with the singer Marianne Rosenberg from 1975 to 1978. Thanks to Richter's humorous moderation and the colorful mix of hit and pop music, the show became a television event with impressive ratings for young and old. In 1982, after 133 episodes of "Disco", Richter was in front of the camera for the last time as a presenter. As an actor he appeared in TV series such as "Three Ladies from the Grill" (1989). For a while it was quiet about what was once Germany's youngest show master, until he found new recognition as an actor and author in the early 1990s.
In 1999, Richter published his autobiography under the title "Spot off. Lights on - My Story". In 2002 he celebrated his 40th stage anniversary. Richter, who became a father in 2001, was on stage with the Georg Kreisler program.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth
- SpouseStephanie von Falkenhausen(? - February 2004) (divorced)
- Started every edition of Disco (1971) with "Hallo Freunde!", to which the audience responded "Hallo Ilja!" ("Hello friends! (audience:) "Hello Ilja!")
- The first prize winner of the "Disco"-quiz was presented with "Licht aus - Whoom! Spot an - Jaaa!" ("Light off - Whoom! Spot on - Yees!")
- His charming, friendly screen presence.
- Colourful, peppy voice
- German dubbing voice of "Timon" in The Lion King (1994), Hank Azaria in The Birdcage (1996), Joe Pantoliano in The Matrix (1999) and "Mike Wazowski" in Monsters, Inc. (2001).
- Fled East Germany with his family in 1953.
- His son Kolja was born in 2001.
- Lives in Berlin with his longtime companion Barbara Ferun.
- Has four siblings: Michael, Georgina, Marina and Janina Richter.
- There are parts of life that you should just leave alone, not keep opening them like books and whispering to yourself how nice it was.
- [on the repeated re-emergence of anti-Semitism in Germany] If anti-Semitism does not worry you, you are a fool and not interested in a good coexistence. You don't need to have a Jewish mother to do this. I am just as worried as many other German citizens who believe in democracy and who also know why it has to be preserved.
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