Actors who fought during wartime

[Richard Anderson]

Hans Cristian Blech

In 1941 Blech was drafted into the Wehrmacht and served as a soldier in the German-Soviet War. The distinctive scars on his face are not, as is often read, from the Second World War, but from a car accident on Darmstadt's Luisenplatz, in which Blech was involved as a 14-year-old.

The German "soldier" per se, in very many movies...

Reminds me of a Marine Corps drill sergeant I once knew...and, oddly enough, I remember the Luisenplatz and "Lange Ludwig" in Darmstadt very well. Fascinating to know he was in a prewar car accident there.

[Hans1906]

Richard,

I think, only someone like Herr Blech, who himself had gone through such a "school", only such a person could shine in this role.

This can certainly be compared with the many years later role of Mr. R. Lee Ermey (Vietnam Veteran) in "Full Metal Jacket".
You don't just "play" such a role, you have experienced comparable things yourself. That's what makes the authenticity of a few films.

But that's just as a personal thought on the subject, that's all it is.


Hans

[LineDoggie]

Lee Marvin is lauded for his experience and it is four days of combat before being wounded. Obviously he saw plenty in those days.

USMC suffered 13,000 casualties at Saipan

[Hans1906]

The german actor Herr Wolfgang Preiss.

From April 1941 he was deployed to an anti-aircraft unit, which did not mean that his evening stage performances were interrupted. In 1942 he made his debut as a film actor in the UFA production Die Große Liebe alongside Zarah Leander, who was released by the Wehrmacht for this purpose...

Source and link: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Preiss

WOLFGANG PREISS TRIBUTE


Der sanfte Nobelmann: Wolfgang Preiss (1910-2002) / The gentle nobleman: Wolfgang Preiss (1910-2002)
Link: http://www.bad-bad.de/gesch/w_preiss.htm

You all remember his face, for sure.
Preiss was "The German Soldier", with whom we grew up in German and international post-war cinema, neat, staunch German, he probably never embodied war criminals and Nazis.


Hans

[Loïc]

I see that Lino Ventura (1919-1987) has been mentioned several times in the forum for war movies but not yet in this thread
french-wikipedia doesn't tell a lot about this period of his life, with chronogical inaccuracies, and italian-wikipedia even less : nothing at all

Italian of Paris, mobilized, he had to return to Italy to serve in the 24°Reggimento Fanteria 14 months in 1942-1943
he was in Gorizia in april 1942 and he went as far as Montenegro
he deserted for his French wife Odette in may 1943 and lived under a false-identity in a village in France, the gestapo having asked explanations to his wife


Lino Ventura in the Free Naval French Forces and LRDG in a Taxi for Tobruk (1961)
Italian infantryman in Yugoslavia and deserter hidden in France in his real life 20 years earlier

[Hans1906]

Hi Loïc,

thanks for your information about Lino Ventura, very interesting...

During World War II he was drafted into the Italian army, deserted in 1943 and hid in a barn in Baracé until the end of the German occupation.

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lino_Ventura

A great actor that I have always respected and still respect, many of his films are unforgotten classics, just great!

RIP Lino


Hans

[Hans1906]

Here a very nice docu about Lino Ventura in the Arte/ARD Mediathek:

Lino Ventura - Ganove mit Herz / Lino Ventura - crook with a heart

Link: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/arte/ ... Ni0wMDAtQQ

Excellent, well worth seeing!


Hans

[LineDoggie]

The german actor Herr Wolfgang Preiss.

From April 1941 he was deployed to an anti-aircraft unit, which did not mean that his evening stage performances were interrupted. In 1942 he made his debut as a film actor in the UFA production Die Große Liebe alongside Zarah Leander, who was released by the Wehrmacht for this purpose...

Source and link: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Preiss

WOLFGANG PREISS TRIBUTE


Der sanfte Nobelmann: Wolfgang Preiss (1910-2002) / The gentle nobleman: Wolfgang Preiss (1910-2002)
Link: http://www.bad-bad.de/gesch/w_preiss.htm

You all remember his face, for sure.
Preiss was "The German Soldier", with whom we grew up in German and international post-war cinema, neat, staunch German, he probably never embodied war criminals and Nazis.


Hans

Hannibal Brooks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDIqIau ... cFilmClips

[Hans1906]

"A film fairy tale with a lot of sentimental kitsch and the turmoil of war, in which the German Star Guard doesn't look good either."
– Hamburger Abendblatt of February 28, 1970

Source: Hannibal Brooks https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_Brooks

For my personal taste another "shitty movie" ("Scheissfilm"), but also world-famous characters like Reed, Pollard and Preiss had to earn money, the money didn't just fall out of the sky then either.

They were not Douglas, Wayne, etc., and many of the films were made for money, to make ends meet.

We should judge it mildly, with our current knowledge and our modern indulgence, it was completely different times, completely different years...

Have mercy on this huge pile of crap!


Hans

[Uncle John]

Horst Tappert was a German movie and television actor best known for the role of Inspector Stephan Derrick
in the television drama "Derrick"

Produced between 1974 and 1998...24 years and 281 one-hour episodes
I've watched some episodes in the late 1980s

He was a member of 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf"

237861e9-0001-0004-0000-000000489263_w1200_r1_fpx57.75_fpy45.jpg

[LorenVasquez]

I watched Inspector Stephan Derrick's movie, his acting at the time was amazing, my whole family fell in love.
with the movie that he acted in a long time, I still watch that movie to this day

[Hans1906]

Hardy Krüger

Wearing the "Schulterklappen" of the "AHS" / "Adolf Hitler Schule" https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf-Hitler-Schulen

The photo was new to me, probably to the most of you also...

This photo was only published after his death, unfortunately, I don't know anything more about it.

It is understandable, why the man was reluctant to talk about these years of his own enthusiasm when he was young.

Hans

[Hans1906]

Eine Stunde mit Hardy Krüger

Hardy Krüger at the Gerhart Hauptmann School in Hanover: He talks about the beginning of his career, his time in the Hitler Youth and his contacts with the resistance. 33 minutes of hands-on history

Hans

[LineDoggie]

Eddie Albert
Born Edward Albert Heimberger

Known for Green Acres, Oklahoma, Brother rat, Captain Newman MD, The Longest Day, The Longest yard, he also had a dark role in "Attack" playing a cowardly emotionally disturbed captain known to abandon his men

He served in USCG as an enlisted man, and in 1943 was commissioned a US Navy reserve officer.
During the invasion of Tarawa @ betio atoll he was a landing craft officer off of USS Sheridan (APA-51) and saved dozens of wounded Marines in the lagoon while under Japanese machinegun fire. He was awarded a Bronze Star medal with "V" for valor device

He served during the Invasions of Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Kwajalein, Leyte, Okinawa

http://navylog.navymemorial.org/albert-eddie

[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b_4wIp ... RANSMUSEUM[/youtube]


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqeR3A ... yattGoulet[/youtube]

[jbaum]

George Gobel never saw combat, but served in WWII in Oklahoma as an instructor pilot for the AT-9 and B-26. He never did have a driver's license.