Television maker Wim de Bie (83) passed away

Evelyne JacqWim de Bie in 2010

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 11:34

Satirist Wim de Bie has passed away at the age of 83. The VPRO reports that he died today at home in The Hague in the presence of family. He had been seriously ill for a long time.

Wim de Bie’s name is inextricably linked to that of Kees van Kooten, with whom he formed a duo on radio and television for many years. Together they made programs such as the Klisjeemannetjes, Het Simplisties Verbond, Koot en Bie and Keek op de Week, in which they commented on the news.

They regularly made use of characters, such as the shy and somewhat frightened Mr Foppe, hermit Walter de Rochebrune, trade union leader Aad van der Naad and the alcoholic drifter Dirk, played by De Bie.

The duo enriched the Dutch language with words such as ‘rule nephew’ and ‘doomsaying’ and expressions such as ‘moses tickle’, ‘keep her out, Cock’ and ‘stepped on their cock’.

Weblog

Last week it was 25 years ago that the duo announced their TV farewell: on March 22, 1998, the two announced that they would stop. This ended a collaboration that lasted 35 years. Van Kooten and De Bie were widely praised for the way in which they managed to sketch the spirit of the times. Not infrequently their satire had predictive value.

In addition, Wim de Bie has written nine novels and short story collections and has made four solo CDs as a singer. Since the turn of the millennium, he has mainly been active on the Internet. For example, he was one of the first to have his own weblog and he did a lot on Twitter.

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