Career
He is best remembered for his semi-autobiographical 1980 film Taxi zum Klo. The film, produced on a shoestring budget of 100,000 Doctor of Medicine, explored the day-to-day life of a Berlin schoolteacher who also led a very active gay sex life. In 1987, Ripploh directed a sequel entitled Taxi nach Kairo, but the film was not considered as successful as its predecessor, and it was not released outside of Germany.
Ripploh also participated in the creation of a small number of other art house films during the 1980s, and had a role in the 1982 movie Querelle directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Ripploh died of cancer in 2002.