Karl Stepanek
Born: 1899-10-27 in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
Died: 1980-12-25
Known For: Acting
Biography
Though born in Czechoslovakia, actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany (as Karl Stepanek) in the years before World War II. Stepanek fled to England in 1940, where, like many European refugee actors, he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains. He tried to stay away from out-and-out Nazi roles, but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepanek's screen characters. One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart; Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol (1949). Commuting between London and Hollywood, Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II, usually on the wrong side, into such '60s films as Sink the Bismarck! (1960), I Aim at the Stars (1960) and Operation Crossbow (1965).
Filmography
1970
- The Games as Kubitsek
1969
- Before Winter Comes as Count Kerassy
- The File of the Golden Goose as Mueller
1967
- Murderers Club of Brooklyn as Dyers
1966
- Sperrbezirk as Inspector Wagner
- The Frozen Dead as General Lubeck
1965
- The Heroes of Telemark as Hartmuller
- Operation Crossbow as Prof. Hoffer
- Licensed to Kill as Henrik Jacobsen
1964
- Devil Doll as Dr. Heller
1963
- Das Kriminalmuseum as Dr. Robert Großmann
- Aufstand der Gehorsamen as Jawor Stranski
1960
- Sink the Bismarck! as Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'
- Our Man in Havana as Dr. Braun
- Brainwashed as Baranow
1959
- No Hiding Place as Professor Remi
- Operation Amsterdam as Diamond Merchant
1957
- Overseas Press Club - Exclusive! as Rubici
- The Traitor as Friederich Suderman
- West of Suez as Langford
1956
- Armchair Theatre
- Anastasia as Mikhail Vlados
- The Man in the Road as Dmitri Balinkev
1955
- The Cockleshell Heroes as Assistant Gestapo Officer
- Man of the Moment as Lom
- Secret Venture as Zelinsky
- A Prize of Gold as Dr. Zachmann
1954
- Dangerous Cargo as Pliny
- Tale of Three Women as Alfred Dykemann (segment "Final Twist' story)
1953
- City Beneath the Sea as Dwight Trevor
- Never Let Me Go as Commissar
- Rough Shoot as Diss
1952
- Affair in Trinidad as Walters
- Walk East on Beacon as Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders
1951
- No Highway in the Sky
- The Third Visitor as Richard Carling
1950
- State Secret as Dr. Revo
- Cairo Road as Edouardo Pavlis
1949
- The Third Man as Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
- Give Us This Day as Jaroslav
- Conspirator as Radek
- Golden Arrow as Schroeder
1948
- The Fallen Idol as First Secretary
- Broken Journey as Swiss Officer (uncredited)
- Counterblast as Professor Inman
1946
- The Captive Heart as Forster
1943
- Tomorrow We Live as Seitz
- They Met in the Dark as Riccardo
- Escape to Danger as Franz von Brinkman
1942
- Secret Mission as Major Lang
- Our Film as Soviet Visitor
1940
- Alles Schwindel as Clubdiener
1939
- Three Fathers for Anna as Matschek
- Hotel Sacher as Franz
- War es der im 3. Stock? as Georg Kilby
- The Leghorn Hat as Felix, Diener bei Farina
- Another Experience as Rechtsanwalt
1938
- Klatovští dragouni
- Narren im Schnee as Rolf Pinkenkötter
1937
- The Bat as Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
1936
- The Unknown as Manager at Regina's
- Stronger Than Paragraphs as Robert Wendland
1935
- Hermine and the Seven Upright Men as Ruckstuhl
- The Grey Pikes Wharf as Ladewig
- Na růžích ustláno
- Pozdní láska
- Der Außenseiter as Otto Burian
1933
- Waltz War as Kellner Leopold
- A Song for You as Theo Bruckner
1932
- Here's Berlin as Max
- Five from the Jazzband as Jean
- Spione im Savoy-Hotel as Jackson