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Both of his parents worked in the field of art history. After completing high school in 1976, Willemsen pursued studies in German, philosophy, art history, and ethnology. He began his education in Bonn and later continued in Florence, Munich, and Vienna. His main research focus, which also shaped his doctoral thesis, was the work of writer Robert Musil. Willemsen initially engaged in academic work, serving as an assistant in literary studies from 1984 to 1986, followed by a lecturer position at the University of Munich during 1986/87. Between 1988 and 1990, he lived in London, freelancing for print media and broadcasting. During this period, he also started working as a freelance writer and translator, publishing primarily art and cultural travel guides, as well as studies on social issues and profiles of notable individuals and their life stories.
Willemsen entered television in 1991/92, initially hosting the interview show "0137" on the pay-TV channel Premiere, where he interviewed numerous international stars and celebrities. This was followed by the talk show "Willemsen - The TV Talk" on the same channel in 1993/94. He gained recognition as a host for his sensitive interviewing style, spontaneous dialogue, and linguistically refined and grammatically precise expression. However, Willemsen became widely known to the German TV audience through his popular talk show "Willemsen's Week," which aired on ZDF from 1994 to 1998 and is remembered as an intelligent and intellectual television talk show.
At the start of 1999, Willemsen transitioned to WDR to present the cultural program "Nachtkultur mit Willemsen," which ran until November 2000. He also periodically hosted the ZDF cultural show "aspekte," sharing duties with other presenters. In the 1990s, Willemsen produced and/or directed several TV documentaries broadcast on ZDF and Arte, created through his own production company, "Noa-Noa Fernsehproduktion GmbH." From 1995 to 1996, he held a visiting professorship in literary studies at the University of Munich and also taught at the University of Film and Television in Munich. In 1996, the portrait series "Willemsen's Contemporaries" aired, and that same year he made his directorial debut with the documentary "Non Stop - A Journey with Michel Petrucciani" on ZDF.
Between 1999 and 2001, Willemsen produced and hosted "Willemsen's Music Magazine" for Second German Television (ZDF). At Expo 2000 in Hanover, he contributed the video installation "Welcome Home - Artists See Germany," showcasing various artists' perspectives on Germany in the German Pavilion. During the 2000/01 season, he hosted the "Stage Talk" at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. From summer 2001, Willemsen produced and presented the interactive AOL show "Talk am Millerntor" and the ZDF portrait series "Gipfeltreffen," which featured double portraits of two prominent figures from selected cities until the end of 2001. After 11 years in television, Willemsen stepped back from the medium at the end of 2001, embarking on an extensive journey across Germany. The literary outcome was his successful 2002 book "Deutschlandreise."
In February 2004, Willemsen returned to electronic media as host of the "Literature Club" on Swiss television (SF). That year, he also published "Gute Tage. Encounters with People and Places," a significant literary work presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004. The book recounts his meetings with contemporary figures worldwide, from the Dalai Lama to Harald Schmidt to Madonna. Willemsen received the Golden Cable and the Bavarian Television Prize in 1992 for his work on "0137," followed by the Adolf Grimme Prize in 1993. Since 2010, he held an honorary professorship at Humboldt University in Berlin and became a member of PEN Center Germany as well as the editorial advisory board of the magazine Kulturtausch.
In 2015, he was honored with the German Audio Book Prize for "The High House. A Year in Parliament." That same year, it was revealed that Willemsen was battling cancer.
Roger Willemsen passed away on February 7, 2016, in Wentorf, Hamburg.
