Meier was born the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Glätterin Rheiner in
St. Gallen on 16 March 1897, and baptised as Rudolf Carl Rheiner. As a toddler he was taken into care by the childless couple Thomas and Wilhelmina Meier-Götsch in
Kradolf and adopted by them in 1912. The whereabouts of his birth mother after 1907 are unknown. In 1912 Meier completed an apprenticeship to a silk weaving enterprise in
Schönenberg. His wish, however, was to become an actor. Through the intervention of his understanding boss, he was transferred to the company headquarters in
Zürich. Here he took acting lessons and worked with travelling companies. After years of travel in Switzerland, he moved in 1924 to perform in Germany. In 1932 he returned to Switzerland, where he first appeared at the
Städtebundtheater Biel-Solothurn and then in the
Stadttheater Schaffhausen. From 1935 to 1947 Meier worked for the
Cabaret Cornichon. He would also star in radio plays and in the movies
Fusilier Wipf (1938),
Bergführer Lorenz (1943), and
Hinter den sieben Gleisen (1959). As editor of the gay magazine
Der Kreis, Meier became internationally known under his pseudonym "Rolf". The paper had been founded in 1932 under the name
Schweizerisches Freundschaftsbanner, changing in 1937 to
Menschenrecht, with Meier changing it to
Der Kreis on becoming editor in 1942. With homosexuality illegal throughout most of Europe the paper was forced to operate on a subscription-based model. Meier wrote political commentaries, reviewed literature and managed the subscriber list. Several times a year he organised masked balls and other events associated with the paper. In 1970 he suffered a stroke during a rehearsal at the
Theater am Hechtplatz on Limmatquai in Zürich. Cared for by his partner, Meier died in Zürich on 29 March 1974 and was buried in
Sulgen at his request. A few of his papers have been preserved by the State Archives of
Thurgau. Meier was depicted in the 2014 film
The Circle, in which he is played by Stefan Witschi. == Notes ==