Youth & early career After his parents divorced, Brozius was sent to a
Catholic orphanage for subjection to the nuns' strict regime. A few years later he moved back in with his mother, who by then was running a
snackbar; he even became her employee when he left school at 14. Two years later, Brozius decided to move on and move out; he sold
lottery-tickets at
fairgrounds before relocating to
Amsterdam where he took acting lessons at the prestigious Kleinkunstacademie. Throughout the 1960s Brozius appeared in comedies and stage-plays with varying degrees of success and even released a few records.
Television, radio and movies In 1968 Brozius made his television debut in children's series
Oebele (alongside singer
Rob de Nijs); two years later he guested in
De Kleine Waarheid as a news-reporter and taped a sketch-show (
Kort en Klein) with
Jeroen Krabbé among others. His twin-breakthrough came in the early 1970s; Brozius played a gator (Aernout Koffij) in the Pied Piper-themed series
Hamelen and hosted the Dutch version of
Runaround (
Ren je Rot). Other credits aimed at his juvenile fanbase were a Monday-afternoon radio-show, the role of a sweet-tooth inventor's son (Felix) in the 1976-taped
Peter en de Vliegende Autobus-movie and the lead-voice in the original
Tintin cartoon series. In 1979 Brozius took part in the rainy third episode of
Sterrenslag (
Battle Of The Stars) and in the early 1980s he appeared in commercials for theme-park
Efteling.
Decline and fall Ren je Rot had a longer lifespan than its equally successful
UK-counterpart, but in 1983 parent broadcaster
TROS decided to make a change after 123 episodes. Brozius continued performing at parties, events and made guest-appearances in television series; in 1985 he played a troubled policeman in a Christmas-episode of
De Poppenkraam. His role as a gambler with money- and health-problems in the hospital-series
Medisch Centrum West in 1989 would soon become reality. Brozius invested his money in order to secure his children's future; the money got lost while the tax-bills were piling up. Brozius was forced to sell his properties (including his three apartments near
Amsterdam Vondelpark); in the process he had his first
heart attack and his second divorce. Television appearances became sparse: in 1994 Brozius played an antiquarian in soap-series
Goede tijden, slechte tijden and in 2001 he appeared in
Terrorama! as a whore-hopper. Brozius died on March 24, 2009, of
diabetes, shortly after
Ren je Rot was back on television as
Kies je Ster, the Dutch version of
Poparound which aired for two seasons. ==References==