Dutch actor and writer Maarten Spanjer was buried in a private ceremony in Amsterdam on what would have been his 74th birthday, following his death at age 73. The memorial gathered friends and family to mark the final farewell of a figure in Dutch television and film, whose career included his role in Paul Verhoeven’s 1980 film Splashes.
René van der Gijp, a close friend of Spanjer, recounted on the program Today Inside that “the first minute people started laughing a little bit.” There was wedding cake at the farewell, as Spanjer had wanted.
Spanjer married his partner, Monique Waterham, five days before his death while lying in a hospital bed. Mediajournalist Mark Koster noted that Spanjer had long opposed marriage before making the decision. Because there were not enough witnesses, people who walked into the room where he lay in the hospital bed were drafted to serve as witnesses.
Following his passing, Spanjer was buried on Saturday in Amsterdam during a private gathering of family and friends. Cultural Rianne Letschert wrote on X: “Met humor en timing wist hij als acteur, schrijver en maker veel mensen een lach te bezorgen.”
Decades of Television History and Golden Calf Antics
Spanjer worked on the television program Taxi. Televisieregisseur Dan Blazer recalled on LinkedIn that Spanjer was an interviewer who used small details like jewelry or tattoos to draw out stories.
That collaboration yielded an anecdote about actor Rijk de Gooyer. In 1995, after De Gooyer won a Gouden Kalf for his role in High Time, Spanjer urged him to throw the award out of a taxi window. De Gooyer threw the Gouden Kalf out of the window. Blazer and a colleague later retrieved the statue from the hard shoulder of the A2; the nose was broken. In 1999, when De Gooyer won another Gouden Kalf, Spanjer threw the prize out of the window himself, as recounted by Koster.
Unpublished Columns Await Release
Spanjer published books starting in 1986, including It is my own fault, Despondently forward, Maarten makes friends, Happiness is a memory, and his 70th-birthday collection, The art of letting go.
Before his death, Spanjer wrote approximately 25 columns, of which seven have been published. Evert Santegoeds, editor-in-chief of Privé, confirmed that the publication plans to release the remaining columns. It is not yet clear whether the columns will be published every week or at a faster pace.
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