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This actor is best known as the most popular screen detective in post-war German cinema. He first gained recognition playing the charismatic Inspector Yates in Francis Durbridge's miniseries Das Halstuch (1962), which achieved an impressive eighty percent TV rating. He continued in similar roles—same part, same crew cut, different names—capturing criminals in a series of Edgar Wallace thrillers with lurid titles typical of the genre: The Avenger (1960), The Indian Scarf (1963), Coffin from Hong Kong (1964), Again the Ringer (1965), and The Horror of Blackwood Castle (1968), among others. After his contract with Constantin Filmverleih ended, he took a break from film and returned to theatre.
From childhood, Drache was passionate about the performing arts, memorizing Goethe's "Faust" by age fourteen. He began acting on stage as an extra during his final year of high school. Although initially set for Luftwaffe flight training, he was exempted from active military duty and allowed to continue theatrical training in Berlin. While at the Deutsches Theater, Gustaf Gründgens noticed him and cast him in a key role in the unusual comic fantasy "Der Schatten" ("The Shadow," based on a Russian play), which became a significant success. Though it did not make him a star, it led to further character roles under Gründgens' direction in classics such as "Danton's Death," "Candida," and "Othello." After engagements at the Berliner Schillertheater and Munich's Kleine Komödie, Drache made his film debut in 1954. Over the next eight years, he alternated between youthful romantic leads and more complex dramatic roles (Spy for Germany (1956), The Rest Is Silence (1959)). His signature crime-fighting persona was launched with "Der Rächer" and solidified with "Das Halstuch." Viewers appreciated the relaxed style and quick-witted, often cynical dialogue of his on-screen detectives. Drache also made notable use of his distinctive deep voice, frequently dubbing for English-speaking stars like Sean Connery, Christopher Lee, Kirk Douglas, and Richard Widmark.
On stage, Drache avoided typecasting and occasionally portrayed more morally ambiguous characters. However, film roles rarely allowed him to demonstrate his full acting range. After a period of relative inactivity (only five appearances between 1969 and 1985), he returned somewhat hesitantly as the sophisticated, pinstripe-clad Kriminalhauptkommissar Hans Georg Bülow in the popular TV crime series Tatort (1970). Yet, the era of the anachronistic gentleman detective had ended, and mixed critical reviews led Drache to leave the show after just six episodes. Subsequently, he gradually withdrew from the public eye and passed away in Berlin in April 2002 at age 79.
