Dieter Brummer played Shane Parrish in Home and Away in the 1990s, alongside Angel, and the couple were a huge hit with fans – but his life was met with tragedy
Dieter Brummer’s first appearance as Shane Parrish in Home and Away
He was one of the biggest heartthrobs on Aussie TV with his blonde curtains, perfect tan, adorable dimples and pearly white teeth.
Dieter Brummer, who portrayed Home And Away’s Shane in the 1990s, seemed to have it all. The young actor won over everyone, including up to 8 million TV viewers in the UK.
Alongside Melissa George, who played Angel, they became a beloved soap couple. Bad boy Shane proposed to Angel while they were still at school, much to the shock of Summer Bay’s older residents.
But tragedy struck on the soap first when Angel was temporarily paralysed after being run over by Alf (Ray Meagher), and again when Shane was knocked off his motorbike.
Although Shane seemingly recovered, he later tragically died of septicaemia, cradled in Angel’s arms. Angel was then taken under the wing of Pippa (Vanessa Downing).
Earlier this year, Melissa – who played Angel – welcomed hird third child at the age of 47.
Meanwhile, back in the 90s, Dieter graced the covers of countless teen magazines and bagged two Australian TV Logie awards for his performances.
After leaving Summer Bay in 1996 following 557 episodes, he appeared in a TV hospital drama, Medivac. He returned to soaps for the short-lived 2001 Sky TV soap Crash Palace, as well as Home And Away rival Neighbours, playing Troy Miller from 2011 to 2012.
However, life wasn’t as rosy as it seemed for Dieter, who later confessed to never getting along with co-star Melissa in real life.
In 2019, he confessed to Australian magazine Woman’s Day that their on-screen love chemistry was far from real, saying: “We may have been love interests on the show but the chemistry was far from real. Mel was incredibly ambitious right from the outset. I don’t think she had much time for the cast of Home And Away.”
Additionally, he declared: “We had to look like the perfect darling couple in public. It wasn’t like anything off screen. It was all on screen.”
The actor then went on to share his struggles with fame, similar to Neighbours’ star Paul Keane, who played Des.
While speaking to Australian TV’s The Fame Game in 2018, he admitted: “It can be very fickle. You’re hot one moment and then you’re not the next. You’d have to just deal with it in any way you can.”
He further added: “I think I’d experienced so much fame during those years on Home And Away that I did just want to take a break from it and literally try and experience a life as Joe Bloggs and live like normal people do.”
After acting, Dieter switched gears and trained as a high rise window cleaner, expressing his happiness at stepping away from daily recognition by fervent fans.
Unfortunately, Dieter’s bubble of contentment burst quite soon. Mere days before he was about to start a new window cleaning job, the New South Wales government paused all construction projects due to the escalating Covid pandemic.
This left Dieter in a state of depression and unemployment.
In July 2021, fans were devastated by the news that the ex-heartthrob had dramatically ended his life in his parents’ home in Sydney, at just 45.
After the shocking event, his family released a touching tribute: “We lost our handsome, talented, funny, complicated and beloved Dieter on Saturday morning.”
“He has left a massive hole in our lives and our world will never be the same.”
Despite the legions of fans mourning his passing, only 10 people attended his funeral due to stringent lockdown restrictions.
