Trivia

Enjoys diving in his leisure time.

Retired as the German voice of Pumbaa in 'The Lion King' in 2016, relinquishing the part to Jürgen Kluckert for 'The Lion Guard'.

Escaped from the GDR in the mid 1950s after learning he wasn't allowed to study there because of his "political unreliability".

From 1976 to 1995, he was a permanent member of the Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft.

He worked as a voice actor for John Belushi, Jerry Lewis (The Big Mouth), Ned Beatty, and John Goodman.

In 1961, he got his first leading role in the Beckett play Waiting for Godot in a small theatre at the Siegestor. Followed by engagements in Bern, at the Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer , and again in Munich.

Basedow played the Sergeant Dimpfelmoser in the 1974 children's film Der Räuber Hotzenplotz at the side of Gert Fröbe and Josef Meinrad. Basedow's Dimpfelmoser had a lasting impact on the portrayal of this character, for example on puppet stages.[.

In 1968, he played a police officer in the cult film Go for It, Baby (Zur Sache, Schätzchen). The photo in which he was shown as a uniformed police officer next to Uschi Glas, who was wearing a corset, went through the entire German-language press.

Dieter Hildebrandt's television cabaret Scheibenwischer hired him for several editions.

He studied to be a teacher, German and sports at the Pädagogische Hochschule Braunschweig. He went then for a half year to an acting school in Munich.

He also dubbed John Belushi as Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers and Ron Donachie as Sergeant Harley in The Jungle Book (1994 film).