Hamel was born in
Ludwigshafen on 7 June 1940. He grew up with two sisters. He knew early on that he wanted to become an actor, though his father disapproved. He took
German studies,
philosophy, and
theatre studies from 1960 to 1962 at the universities of
Heidelberg and
Cologne. He then completed acting training at the
Schauspielschule Bochum, with . While still in training, director
Oscar Fritz Schuh brought him to the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Berlin, where he made his debut in 1963 as Thomas Diaforius in Molière's
The Imaginary Invalid, directed by
Fritz Kortner. In 1964, Hamel moved to the
Schauspiel Bochum, then briefly to the
Bühnen der Stadt Köln, where he appeared as Artur in Mrożek 's
Tango. From 1968, he worked for the
Residenztheater in Munich, engaged by , who had seen him in Cologne. He made his successful debut there in the title role of Molière's
George Dandin. From 1973 to 2001, Hamel was a permanent ensemble member at the
Münchner Kammerspiele. In a production of Shakespeare's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'', he played Bottom. He was cast as Bruscon, the "theatre maker", the title role in Thomas Bernhard's
Der Theatermacher in 1988, regarded as a signature role. He returned to the Residenztheater for the 2001/02 season, where he played Agamemnon in
Hekabe by Euripides and Sosias in Kleist's ''
, both directed by Dieter Dorn in 2001. He played the Rittmeister in The Father'' by Strindberg, directed by in 2001, He held the title role in Shakespeare's
Titus Andronicus, and portrayed Estragon in Beckett's
Waiting for Godot, both directed by . He appeared as Theseus in Racine's
Phädra and as Zauberkönig in Horváth's
Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald in 2005, both directed by
Barbara Frey. Hamel portrayed the title role of Ibsen's
Baumeister Solness in 2006, Willy Loman in Miller's
Tod eines Handlungsreisenden in 2007, and Adam in Kleist's
Der zerbrochne Krug in 2009, all staged by . He took part in guest engagements at the
Salzburg Festival and at the
Burgtheater in Vienna. He played Werner von Späth in 's
Hotel Capri at the Residenztheater in Munich in 2014. In musical theatre, he appeared as Alfred Doolittle in the musical
My Fair Lady and as Oberst Ollendorf in Millöcker's operetta
Der Bettelstudent. In 1996, he was director of Leo Fall's operetta
Madame Pompadour at the
Gärtnerplatztheater. Hamel acted in numerous film and television productions. He portrayed
the title role in Rainer Wolffhardt's '''' (1983), and he played
Helmut Kohl in Hans-Christoph Blumenberg's '
(2000). He acted in the 2019 film ', directed by Marcus O. Rosenmüller. He appeared in popular crime series, including
Derrick,
Tatort, and
Der Alte, often portraying nasty characters. He also acted in
Der Bergdoktor and
Pfarrer Braun. He read
audio books and
dubbed the voices of
Philippe Noiret,
Charlton Heston,
Richard Widmark, and
Edward G. Robinson. Hamel died in
Munich on 13 February 2026, at the age of 85, after a short illness. ==Selected filmography==