Because of the three-finger rule, Mark Keeler did not want to play at Bergdoktor

In “Der Bergdoktor,” Mark Keeler plays Dr. Alexander Kanweiler. But Martin Gruber almost did without him.

Ellmau – The main focus of “Der Bergdoktor” is the often chaotic private life of Dr. Martin Gruber (Hans Siegel, 53) in the center. Despite all the family drama and strokes of fate, the lovable country doctor can always count on a good friend: Dr. Alexander Kanweiler (Mark Keeler, 57). The two doctors go through thick and thin together and are now a close-knit team – it was almost non-existent.

‘Martin Gruber’s Antagonist’: BergDoctor star Mark Keeler’s role was very different at first

Before ZDF premieres its “Bergdoktor” season finale “Der Weg zurück” on February 23, Mark Keeler announced both his musical career and the home series, which he’s been an integral part of since 2008. “It’s a very nice series,” he explains in an interview with SWR1. I can only say it, it was a small fortune and a big fortune for me that I got this role.”

For all the euphoria about his time with “Der Bergdoktor,” Mark Keeler also reveals a surprising detail: the Alexander Kanweiler we know today didn’t exist to begin with. “They were planning a new series and asked if I wanted to play that role,” he looks back and explains: When he got the script, the character of the Chief Doctor was very young, much less humorous than it is today, and only served as that of one of Martin Gruber’s opponents.

‘I’ve only played lead roles so far’: Mark Keeler wanted to turn down the role of BergDoctor at first

Today, Alexander Kahnweiler is an integral part of the Bergdoktor family, but Mark Keeler almost turned him down because of the small scope of the part. “I didn’t really want to play the role at first and it was too young. Then I auditioned for 3 fingers,” he recalled. He also explains what it’s all about: You take three fingers and scroll through a text at different points to check how many times a role appears in it.

“Could the role be there at all? What kind of role is that?”, the trained auto mechanic recalls a conversation with his agent Angelica Reuter, “So far I have only played the lead roles, what is that?” But in the end, it was she who was able to convince him to give Alexander Kanweiler a chance. “It’s still a small role, but it was written very seriously,” Mark Keeler looked back, “but then I said I was doing it because I had to think about my family, my kids.”