Roger Willemsen was born into an art history family and pursued his passion for the subject, studying German, philosophy, art history, and ethnology at various institutions in Bonn, Florence, Munich, and Vienna. He specialized in the work of writer Robert Musil, which influenced his doctoral research.
Willemsen initially worked in academia, serving as an assistant for literary studies and a lecturer at the University of Munich. He later transitioned to freelance writing and translation, publishing art and cultural travel guides, as well as studies on social issues and portraits of notable individuals.
In 1991, Willemsen entered television, hosting the interview program "0137" on Premiere and later the talk show "Willemsen - The TV Talk" on the same station. His sensitive conversation style, spontaneous dialogue, and grammatically correct expression made him a popular moderator.
Willemsen's next major television venture was the talk show "Willemsen's Week" on ZDF, which ran from 1994 to 1998 and became a landmark in German television history. He went on to host the cultural program "Nachtkultur mit Willemsen" on WDR and appeared as a presenter on ZDF's "aspekte" format.
Willemsen also founded his own TV production company, Noa-Noa Fernsehenproduktion GmbH, and produced and directed several documentaries for ZDF and Arte. He held a visiting professorship for literary studies at the University of Munich and taught at the University of Film and Television in Munich.
Throughout his career, Willemsen received numerous awards, including the Golden Cable and the Bavarian Television Prize in 1992, the Adolf Grimme Prize in 1993, and the German Audio Book Prize in 2015. He was also an honorary professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin and a member of the PEN Center Germany and the editorial advisory board of the magazine Kulturtausch.
Sadly, Willemsen passed away on February 7, 2016, at the age of 63, after a battle with cancer.
