Before They Were Stars: Christoph Waltz on a 1970s Austrian Children’s Show

In the most exciting news The Back Row has ever received, our website was just plugged by none other than Eli Roth himself on Twitter two days ago, who seemed to appreciate my “Before They Were Stars” feature on his past work as an extra! If you’re reading this, Mr. Roth, thank you so much for the plug! Anyway, I did a “Before They Were Stars” feature on Brad Pitt yesterday, so I might as well keep the Inglourious Basterds theme going and do one for Christoph Waltz. Of course, I’ve already done a “Before They Were Stars” spotlight on Mr. Waltz from when he starred in a German Christmas movie called Santa Wanted, but since the guy did a plethora of work before he got his first exposure in North America, there’s tons of material to work with. However, this is probably the earliest Christoph Waltz footage you will ever find! In 1977, at the age of 21, he made what I believe to be his first acting appearance on a popular Austrian kids show called At the Dam, singing and dancing in a very goofy-looking striped outfit. If you turn on the closed captioning, the subtitles state that he is singing “I Am the New Year”. The clip is only fifteen seconds long, but it may be the greatest fifteen seconds you ever see!