
Otto Sander (German: [ˈɔtoː ˈzandɐ]; June 30, 1941 – September 12, 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor.
Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he spent his military service in 1961/62 with the Bundesmarine and left as reserve fenrik. Sander then studied theatre science, history of art and philosophy. In 1965 he made his acting debut at the Düsseldorfer chamber plays. After his first film work in the same year he abandoned his studies in 1967, and went to Munich to become a full-time actor.
His career is closely connected with the Schaubühne theatre in Berlin under the direction of Peter Stein. From 1980 onwards Sander appeared on several of Berlin's theatre stages, among others at the Schillertheater in 1981, at the Freie Volksbühne in 1985 and in 1989 at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm. More recently he starred in Hauptmann von Köpenick at the Schauspielhaus Bochum (2004).
In 1990, he was a member of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
Among his best-known film roles are the angel Cassiel in Wings of Desire and its sequel Faraway, So Close! by Wim Wenders, and a shell-shocked U-boat commander, Kapitänleutnant Philipp Thomsen, in Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot. Sander also appeared in The Tin Drum (1979) as a trumpeter and in Comedian Harmonists, a biopic about the musical group of the same name. He also played a professor in the movie The Promise about the division of Berlin by the wall. In 1999 he played a role in Rosa von Praunheim's movie The Einstein of Sex.

Das Boot
1981 · as Phillip Thomsen

The Tin Drum
1979 · as Meyn

Wings of Desire
1987 · as Cassiel

Krabat
2008 · as Narrator (voice)

Werner and the Wizard of Booze
1990 · as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Wahnfried
1986 · as Richard Wagner

The Killer Condom
1996 · as Mr. Higgins

Faraway, So Close!
1993 · as Cassiel

About Narration
2025

Die Bakchen
1974 · as Tiresias

Hölderlin-Comics
1994

Rosa Luxemburg
1986 · as Karl Liebknecht

Lumière & Company
1995 · as Cassiel (segment "Wim Wenders")

Am I Beautiful?
1998 · as David

Die Mutter
1971

The Marquise of O
1976 · as Brother, Forstmeister

Summer Guests
1976 · as Pjotr Suslov

Liebe Lügen
1997 · as Vater