Although he is chiefly known as a popular German television actor, Manfred Krug has also had careers as a film actor and as a pop-jazz singer. Born in Duisburg on February 8, 1937, he relocated to East Germany in 1949 at the age of 13, where he worked in a steel factory until he began acting on stage and in films in 1956. He recorded several successful pop-jazz albums in the early '70s, often in conjunction with composer Gunther Fischer. He also began a career as a writer under the alias Clemens Kerber. Frustrated with the political climate in East Germany (he had been forbidden to perform), Krug applied for and was granted permission to move to the West German portion of Berlin in 1977. Once settled there, he continued to act but sang and recorded only occasionally, and through the 1980s and 1990s and into the 21st century he has worked primarily as an actor in various television shows. He died on October 21, 2016 in Berlin.