Karl Stepanek

Karl Stepanek

  • Birthday: 1899-10-27
  • Deathday: 1980-12-25
  • Place of birth: Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
  • Also know as: Karl Stepanek

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

Aufstand der Gehorsamen

1963

As Jawor Stranski

Licensed to Kill

1965

As Henrik Jacobsen

Dangerous Cargo

1954

As Pliny

Escape to Danger

1943

As Franz von Brinkman

West of Suez

1957

As Langford

Walk East on Beacon!

1952

As Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders

Here's Berlin

1932

As Max

Secret Venture

1955

As Zelinsky

Devil Doll

1964

As Dr. Heller

The Frozen Dead

1966

As General Lubeck

Cairo Road

1950

As Edouardo Pavlis

The Third Visitor

1951

As Richard Carling

Der Außenseiter

1935

As Otto Burian

Our Film

1942

As Soviet Visitor

Man of the Moment

1955

As Lom

City Beneath the Sea

1953

As Dwight Trevor

Sink the Bismarck!

1960

As Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'

State Secret

1950

As Dr. Revo

Affair in Trinidad

1952

As Walters

Never Let Me Go

1953

As Commissar

Sperrbezirk

1966

As Inspector Wagner

Tomorrow We Live

1943

As Seitz

Secret Mission

1942

As Major Lang

War es der im 3. Stock?

1939

As Georg Kilby

The Traitor

1957

As Friederich Suderman

Counterblast

1948

As Professor Inman

They Met in the Dark

1943

As Riccardo

Before Winter Comes

1969

As Count Kerassy

Narren im Schnee

1938

As Rolf Pinkenkötter

A Prize of Gold

1955

As Dr. Zachmann

Die Fledermaus

1937

As Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky

Rough Shoot

1953

As Diss

The Unknown

1936

As Manager at Regina's

A Song for You

1933

As Theo Bruckner

Spione im Savoy-Hotel

1932

As Jackson

The Man in the Road

1956

As Dmitri Balinkev

The Fallen Idol

1948

As First Secretary

The Leghorn Hat

1939

As Felix, Diener bei Farina

Waltz War

1933

As Kellner Leopold

Give Us This Day

1949

As Jaroslav

Anastasia

1956

As Mikhail Vlados

Golden Arrow

1949

As Schroeder

The Cockleshell Heroes

1955

As Assistant Gestapo Officer

Conspirator

1949

As Radek

Tale of Three Women

1954

As Alfred Dykemann (segment "Final Twist' story)

Operation Amsterdam

1959

As Diamond Merchant

Our Man in Havana

1960

As Dr. Braun

Hotel Sacher

1939

As Franz

The Third Man

1949

As Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)

Operation Crossbow

1965

As Prof. Hoffer

The Captive Heart

1946

As Forster

Broken Journey

1948

As Swiss Officer (uncredited)

The Heroes of Telemark

1965

As Hartmuller

The Games

1970

As Kubitsek

No Highway

1951

As

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