Things were finally looking good for Dieter Brummer only days before his death.
An old friend had given the Home and Away heartthrob some much-needed employment after learning of his financial difficulties.
‘Thanks for getting me on board,’ Brummer remarked enthusiastically on Facebook.
Brummer, 45, had turned his hand to high-rise window cleaning after leaving the small screen, and this work on a renowned apartment building in Sydney’s CBD was the lifeline he needed.
‘I’m excited by the prospect of working high above Covid, which is “supposedly” “ravaging” Sydney,’ she says.
But his letter to his partner on July 15, which included a photo of a bearded Brummer tucked among the city’s skyscrapers, would be his last.
On July 17, just two days later, the NSW Government halted all building in greater Sydney for two weeks in a frantic – and ultimately unsuccessful – attempt to stem an outbreak of the Indian Delta variety.
The lockdown was a terrible blow for Brummer, who committed suicide on Saturday, barely one week after the limits were announced, at his parent’s house in Glenhaven, in the city’s north west.
His heartbroken boss, who has known Brummer for two decades, said, ‘He was extremely happy and really appreciative about the position.’
‘The shutdown knocked the wind out of his sails.’
Brummer is one of tens of thousands of employees who have been unable to earn a living as a result of the city’s crippling lockdown.
Since the outbreak, Sydney has become the first Australian city to halt development. The construction sector just reopened on Saturday, but not in the eight LGAs in west and south-west Sydney that remain under stricter lockdown.
Daily Mail Australia is aware of the situation. Brummer was informed he might get financial help from the state government, but the procedure irritated him.
‘It was the final straw,’ said a close friend.
The news comes as Dawn Brummer, the late actor’s devastated mother, spoke to Daily Mail Australia about the tremendous impact Brummer will leave for those suffering from depression.
When Dawn Brummer, 84, was approached on Friday, she stated her son was having financial difficulties. Mrs. Brummer said she is coping with her loss by writing a biography about her son in the hopes of helping others suffering from mental illness.
‘Right now, I’m working on a biography of his life, and all of the specifics of his mental state will be included in it,’ she explained.
‘His pals are assisting me. And I’m hoping that the book will be beneficial to those who are depressed.
‘Right now, that’s all I’m doing; I’m just writing, writing, writing.’
Mrs. Brummer is receiving support from her family as she prepares for her son’s burial.
Brummer was discovered dead on Saturday after police were called to check on him. In the days following their son’s death, his parents refused to return to their house.
Rob, the ’90s heartthrob’s longest friend, went to his Glenhaven home in Sydney’s north on Tuesday to begin the painful job of sifting through his possessions.
Rob told the Daily Mail Australia, “Brummer was the brightest, most brilliant guy I’d ever known,” with tears in his eyes.
He said Brummer’s death was still too painful to discuss, but he understood why it had crushed the hearts of a generation of Australians who grew up with posters of adolescent heartthrob ‘Shane Parrish’ tacked to their walls.
‘I had (the posters) as a kid, and so did my wife,’ he added.
Rob met Brummer when he was 11 years old, four years before he was cast in the TV show, and claimed he’was just the best buddy’ from the start.
‘I don’t know what more to say except that he was the most amazing guy I’d ever met.’ Intelligent, vibrant, and simply wonderful.
Brummer gave so much to his part as Shane Parrish on the long-running drama from 1992 to 1996 that it took months for industry experts to replace the hole once he left.
When word got out that Brummer had been written out of the programme, Danny Rizk was working at Mullinars, the casting agency that gave him his big break.
‘They had to find a replacement,’ he explained. ‘Four and a half months and over 7,500 auditionees later, Mullinars was able to fill that hole.’
‘Of all the fatalities in the creative services industry, this one has disturbed me the most… Mental illness is not a hoax, as everyone reading this knows.
‘On every boundary, it is significant because it eats at at one’s core.’
Brummer featured in 557 episodes of Home and Away, receiving the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor in 1995 and 1996.
Heath Ledger would come as a guest star on the show the following year. Before moving on to international success with the film 10 Things I Hate About You, he had a similar cult-like following among fans.
Meanwhile, Brummer has appeared in guest appearances in Neighbours, Underbelly, and Medevac.
He gave it all up for a window-washing job, later admitting that he prefered the isolation of the job over waiting tables or bartending in between positions.
In 2009, he remarked, “The wonderful part about it is I don’t have to interact with people too much.”
‘If I was pulling beers, men would remark things like, ‘Oh, you’re pulling beers now and you used to be in Underbelly.’
However, a source informed the Daily Mail Australia that he has been thinking a lot about ‘what could have been’ if his career had taken a different path in recent years.
His ambition was to return to acting at some time in the future.
Brummer questioned if he would have had more success in the industry if he hadn’t been cast as Shane Parrish.
He felt constrained by his role in such a popular show.
‘It’s as though you’re typecast.’ It’s difficult for producers or casting agencies to forget. Brummer once stated, “I’m still ‘that bloke from Home And Away’ 20 years later.”
‘Every now and again, you look back and ponder, ‘I wonder what it would have been like if I hadn’t gotten that job at 15?’
On Monday, his family issued a statement saying goodbye to ‘handsome, brilliant, witty, complex, and adored Dieter.’
‘He’s left a huge hole in our lives, and our world will never be the same without him.’
‘All of you who knew him, loved him, or worked with him throughout the years are in our thoughts.’
His best friend Of all the ways Brummer has been remembered – as a hard worker, a talent, a heartthrob – Rob believes the most significant is that he was simply a decent man.
