Jan Fedder

Jan Fedder (14 January 1955 – 30 December 2019) was a German actor, born in Hamburg. He was best known for his role as police officer Dirk Matthies in the German television show Großstadtrevier. He was also known for his role as the crude Petty Officer Pilgrim in Wolfgang Petersen's film, Das Boot. Fedder was especially known for playing typical Northern German characters.

While filming a scene in which the U-96 is caught in a storm, Fedder lost his footing and was nearly swept off the conning tower set. Bernd Tauber (who played Navigator Kriechbaum) noticed Fedder was suddenly missing and cried out "Mann-über-Bord!" (man overboard). With the cameras still rolling, Tauber helped him to the conning tower hatch. Petersen did not realize at first that it was an accident and said "Good idea, Jan. We'll do that one more time!" before it came upon him. Fedder was hospitalized and his role was partially rewritten so that he was bed-ridden for a short portion of the film. The footage was developed and the scene in which Pilgrim is nearly swept off the submarine is one of the most memorable moments in the film.

Fedder was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2012. He died on 30 December 2019 in Hamburg of the disease, aged 64. He has been in a wheelchair for the past few months of his life.