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
- The File of the Golden Goose as Mueller
- Before Winter Comes as Count Kerassy
1967
- Murderers Club of Brooklyn as Dyers
1966
- The Frozen Dead as General Lubeck
- Sperrbezirk as Inspector Wagner
1965
- Operation Crossbow as Prof. Hoffer
- The Heroes of Telemark as Hartmuller
- 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'
- Brainwashed as Baranow
- Our Man in Havana as Dr. Braun
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
- A Prize of Gold as Dr. Zachmann
- Secret Venture as Zelinsky
- Man of the Moment as Lom
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)
- Conspirator as Radek
- Golden Arrow as Schroeder
- Give Us This Day as Jaroslav
1948
- The Fallen Idol as First Secretary
- Counterblast as Professor Inman
- Broken Journey as Swiss Officer (uncredited)
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
- Another Experience as Rechtsanwalt
- War es der im 3. Stock? as Georg Kilby
- Hotel Sacher as Franz
- The Leghorn Hat as Felix, Diener bei Farina
1938
- Narren im Schnee as Rolf Pinkenkötter
- Klatovští dragouni
1937
- The Bat as Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
1936
- The Unknown as Manager at Regina's
- Stronger Than Paragraphs as Robert Wendland
1935
- Pozdní láska
- Na růžích ustláno
- The Grey Pikes Wharf as Ladewig
- Hermine and the Seven Upright Men as Ruckstuhl
- Der Außenseiter as Otto Burian
1933
- Waltz War as Kellner Leopold
- A Song for You as Theo Bruckner
1932
- Here's Berlin as Max
- Spione im Savoy-Hotel as Jackson
- Five from the Jazzband as Jean