Career
After his 1945 wartime Abitur, Sedlmayr served as a Flakhelfer towards the end of World World War World War II His acting career began with minor roles with the Münchner Kammerspiele, for which he played more than 25 years, and in numerous Heimatfilme during the 1940s and 1950s. He was later acquitted of all charges, and the media attention given to his trial helped him gain major roles. His breakthrough came with the leading role in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg"s film Theodor Hierneis oder Wie man ehem.
Hofkoch wird (1972).
Afterwards, Sedlmayr was cast in numerous popular German television shows, including Münchner Geschichten, Der Herr Kottnik, Der Millionenbauer, and Polizeiinspektion 1. He also frequently appeared on stage and in other media. On 15 July 1990, Sedlmayr was found dead in the bedroom of his Munich apartment.
He had been tied up, stabbed in the stomach with a knife and beaten about the head with a hammer.
On 21 May 1993, two half-brothers, Wolfgang Werlé and Manfred Lauber, former business associates of Sedlmayr, were found guilty of his murder and sentenced to life in prison. One of them left prison in August 2007 and the other on January 15, 2008.
Sedlmayr"s life and murder were the subject of the 2001 biopic Wambo by Jo Baier, where he was played by Jürgen Tarrach, and of an episode of the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator television series Die großen Kriminalfälle. There has been some recent controversies concerning Wikipedia"s decision to publish the names of Sedlmayr"s killers.
The contention concerns the European right to oblivion and American first amendment free speech.
In 2009 German courts ordered the names removed from the article, but Wikipedia has contested the validity of the ruling as it neither operates nor has assets in Germany.