The town of Illnau in Canton Zurich is naming a street after one of Switzerland's leading comic actors, Walter Roderer, to mark his 80th birthday.

For over half a century, Roderer - whose home is in Illnau - was a star of stage, screen and television, usually performing in the Swiss-German dialect. Until his retirement seven years ago he specialised in playing the part of naive, pedantic characters in comic situations.

Born the son of a textile trader in St Gallen, he was already involved in the theatre in his late teens as an assistant director in Zurich. In 1953 Roderer had to leave university - where he studied history and German literature - when he ran out of money.

But the academic world's loss was theatre's gain. Within four years he triumphed on the stage in a production of "Der Mustergatte" - in a role he went on to play a record 1,288 times.

Roderer, who also worked in radio and on television, was equally at home appearing on the big screen. Among his movies was "Buchhalter Nötzli", one of the most popular Swiss-German films ever made.

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