Jo Gerner | |||||||||||
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Wolfgang Bahro as Jo Gerner
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Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten character | |||||||||||
Portrayed by | Wolfgang Bahro | ||||||||||
Duration | 1993-present | ||||||||||
First appearance | Episode 185 February 3, 1993 |
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Created by | Reg Watson | ||||||||||
Profile | |||||||||||
Occupation | Attorney at law Businessman Former politician Former gastronomer |
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Residence | Townhouse Berlin, Germany |
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Parents | Richard Graf (deceased) Unnamed woman (deceased) |
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Siblings | Patrick Graf Sr. (paternal half-brother; deceased) |
Spouse | Nataly Jäger (divorced) [2000] Patrizia Bachmann (divorced) [2002-2003] Katrin Flemming (married) [2008-present] |
Children | Vanessa Moreno Dominik Gundlach Johanna Flemming |
Nieces and nephews | Patrick Graf Jr. |
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim "Jo" Gerner is a fictional character on the longest-running German soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten. The character is portrayed by actor Wolfgang Bahro since its introduction in February 1993. Over the years the character and Bahro's portrayal have become the identification of the show.
Jo Gerner is introduced as a ruthless attorney, who works for the powerful businessman Richard Graf (Lutz Moik). As it appears, Gerner isn't only Richard's right hand, but also his illegitimate son. Immediately it's shown that Jo Gerner is a real creep and schemer who tries to use everyone around him. The character was created to bring more storyline possibilities into the show and a character that doesn't have to be loved - but more loved to be hate - by the viewers. Actor Wolfgang Bahro took the job without even trying to land the role at the casting. He later said in an interview that he originally planned to play the part for a few weeks - months at least - and it became the role of his life instead. The character of Jo Gerner has also appeared to be a ladies man. With his convincing charm Gerner ensnares the women to let them down, when he's not interested anymore. His first "victim" would be Julia Backhoff (Marie-Christine Herriger). But she doesn't want to get herself involved with Jo, leading to him seeking revenge on her boyfriend Peter Becker (Sali Landricina), when he snaps up his workshop. But the character has also a softer side. Jo Gerner shows his magnificent talent as an attorney to his clients and is determined to win his cases. Even though when he has a personal problem with his client - happened with Tim Böcking (Oliver Bender) - he gives his best. But the real thing that Jo Gerner cares about are children. Introduced as a childless single man, Gerner would later find out that he has a grown daughter, Vanessa Moreno (Anne Bendler), and Jo also fathered two other children, Dominik (Raúl Richter) and Johanna, through the years. The character also becomes a respected businessman, being involved in having a restaurant, an airline and a hotel complex in the abroad. His restaurant Fasan serves as a location for the show for years until being shut down in summer 2008.
Jo's first marriage was to the young Nataly Jäger (Nadine Dehmel). The marriage didn't happen out of love, but more out of an accident that Gerner caused. When Nataly wasn't feeling well after having dinner in the Fasan one night, Jo Gerner offered to drive the young woman home. On the way, Gerner commits a hit and run after he hit Barbara Graf (Maren Turm), his former stepmother and longtime lover, with a car. After the accident Gerner loses control over the car in a fight with Nataly and drives against a tree. Nataly loses her memory and is diagnosed with amnesia after the troubled accident. Gerner fears that Nataly could remember one day and takes care of the young woman. It doesn't take long and Nataly falls for Jo. He sees this as a way out not to risk that his fault on the accident comes to light. Nataly gets warned by her friends about Jo, but doesn't listen since Jo is the only one she truly trust after the accident. When Nataly gets pregnant, Jo is happy and they decide to get married. But a short time before the wedding, Nataly gets her memory back and sees that she is being played, but marries Jo anyway. After the ceremony Nataly is totally confused and gets in another car accident, causing her losing the baby. Nataly seeks for revenge on Gerner, kidnaps him and wants to perform a vasectomy on him herself. She has him already lying on an operating table, when Jan Wittenberg (Rainer Meifert) and Charlotte (Stefanie-Julia Möller) stop her. After realizing what Gerner did to her and losing control in the end, she decides to leave town and divorce Jo.