Best Choice of Actor for Playing Infamous SS Officers...

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 26 Mar 2006 14:36

Who would be the best actors for playing historically well known men in the Nazi SS?

Here are my personel choices:

Heinrich Himmler: Kevin Spacey (Se7en, LA Confidential) or Simon Pegg (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead).

Adolf Eichmann: Tony Shalhoub (Galaxy Quest, Monk).

Ernst Kaltenbrunner: Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Harry Potter) or Gottfried John (GoldenEye, Proof of Life).

Paul Blobel: Rade Serbedzija (Mighty Joe Young, Snatch) or Karel Roden (Hellboy, The Bourne Supremecy).

Reinhard Heydrich: the actor who played "Richmond" on The IT Crowd.

Karl Wolf: James Woods (The Getaway, GTA: San Andreas) or Julian Glover (The Empire Strikes Back, Troy).

What do you think?

Beppo Schmidt · Post by **Beppo Schmidt** » 27 Mar 2006 18:28

Heinrich Himmler- Ulrich Noethen (played him in Downfall)

Ernst Kaltenbrunner- Christopher Heyerdahl (played him in Nuremberg)

not sure about the others

Cor · Post by **Cor** » 27 Mar 2006 18:50

Why is everybody so charmed about Ulrich Noethen playing Himmler. He was not bad but he could not convince me very much.

Then Donald Pleasance was a better Himmler in my opinion

Beppo Schmidt · Post by **Beppo Schmidt** » 27 Mar 2006 19:02

Yes Pleasence was the best Himmler, but I was thinking of living actors.

Kurz Patrone · Post by **Kurz Patrone** » 28 Mar 2006 01:53

Indeed Pleasence wins hands down for his portrayal of Himmler,
he was scary looking in "the eagle has landed".

Mauro.

waldorf · Post by **waldorf** » 28 Mar 2006 04:03

Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich
Stanley Tucci as Eichman

Both actors did a great job already portraying these characters in the movie Conspiracy.

Regards,

Chris

hAwKeYe · Post by **hAwKeYe** » 28 Mar 2006 04:10

Ulrich Noethen resembled Himmler more than Donald Pleasance ever did. Don't get me wrong, both were good.. But Ulrich was better.

Jeremy Chan · Post by **Jeremy Chan** » 28 Mar 2006 06:06

I reckon the choice of Pleasance as the better Himmler would've been due to his leery appearance, he was after all 17 years older than the Himmler of that period (Himmler at that time would've been 42; Pleasance was 56 when he played Himmler). Noethen's Himmler was surely accurate in the flesh, yet didn't seem to have that chilling a portrayal. Surely the progress of the war must've shaken him, or maybe we'd prefer to view him as the monster he was . . .

Is this thread about actors who have played SS men, or those who would be potentially suitable playing SS-men? If it's the latter, here would be my choices, if tasteful enough:
Joachim Peiper - Adrien Brody (The Pianist, King Kong) or Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, The Day After Tomorrow)
Kurt Meyer - Clive Owen (King Arthur, Derailed)

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 28 Mar 2006 11:49

Although he looked roughly the same age (early to mid 40s) and looked quite similar (ugly central to northern European) I thought Ulrich Noethen phoned it in as Himmler and was nowhere near as good as Pleasance's more vivid portrayal of that pathetic creature, although to be fair Noethen only had a small role with a few lines in the script, plus the director possibly told him not to "ham it" up.

I heard that Ian Holm played Heinrich Himmler as well; even though Ian Holm looks quite harmless he can play creepy too (Alien and From Hell). David Warner was casted alongside him as Reinhard Heydrich and he has a long history of playing bad guys.

waldorf · Post by **waldorf** » 28 Mar 2006 14:14

How about Joe Pesci as Sepp Dietrich??

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0112641/fcsbat_0083.jpg

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jse ... &linktext=

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 28 Mar 2006 15:53

The Real Ernst Kattlebrunner: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... runner.jpg

Gottfried John: http://www.james-bond007.de/assets/images/17a00230.jpg

Jason Isaacs: http://miqque.50megs.com/images/LEG/isaacs-jason.jpg

I think Jason Isaacs could be a good choice for playing that drunken thug, Kattlebrunner, if he had scar tissue applied to his face and wore brown/hassle contact lenses. And he seems to be the right age range (39 to 48) to play Kattlebrunner too.

I think Gottfried John (he was the crooked Russian general in GoldenEye) is far too old to play Kattlebrunner, in fact he would be much more suitable for the role of SS Kripo chief, Arthur Nebe.

Beppo Schmidt · Post by **Beppo Schmidt** » 28 Mar 2006 16:28

I reckon the choice of Pleasance as the better Himmler would've been due to his leery appearance, he was after all 17 years older than the Himmler of that period (Himmler at that time would've been 42; Pleasance was 56 when he played Himmler). Noethen's Himmler was surely accurate in the flesh, yet didn't seem to have that chilling a portrayal. Surely the progress of the war must've shaken him, or maybe we'd prefer to view him as the monster he was . . .

Pleasance gave a good performance as Himmler, but as for Noethen not being "chilling", it's hard to say if that's a bad thing or not. Many people who met Himmler say that they got no sense of danger or malice from him, so maybe even though we prefer to think of him as a sinister, creepy figure, he really did seem bland and non-threatening like Noethen did. And as someone else pointed out, Noethen had basically a cameo, so it's hard to judge what he could have done with a bigger role.

I heard that Ian Holm played Heinrich Himmler as well; even though Ian Holm looks quite harmless he can play creepy too

Ian Holm can alternate equally convincingly between being a harmless kindly old man and being a vicious evil monster. I haven't seen him play Himmler, but he made a very good Goebbels in Inside The Third Reich. Doesn't really look like Goebbels, aside from being very small, but his performance had the kind of manic fanaticism and venom I imagine the real Goebbels having.

waldorf · Post by **waldorf** » 30 Mar 2006 20:43

Forgive me for going off topic, but what would you guys think of John Hurt as Adolf Hitler? I think he could really pull the role off.

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0434409/ ... rt,%20John

Regards,

Chris

Big Orange · Post by **Big Orange** » 30 Mar 2006 20:56

waldorf, John Hurt in that photo somehow looks more like a Japanese businessman rather than Adolf Hitler, although he very recently played the Hitler like character, High Chancellor Adam Sutler, in V for Vendetta. Adam Sutler was the leader of the National Socialist-style Norsefire regime, a very brutal dictatorial government that ruled future Britain with an iron fist (Adam Sutler is also in the photo waldorf provided).

waldorf · Post by **waldorf** » 30 Mar 2006 21:03

Big Orange,

Granted the photo might not be the best from the film, but I still think he could play Hitler and get away with it.