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Kurt Kreuger (July 23, 1916 – July 12, 2006) was a Swiss-reared
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
. Kreuger once was the third-most-requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others,
Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...
and
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
.


Life and career

Kreuger was born in
Michendorf Michendorf is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Michendorf lies in a vast wooded area about nine kilometers south of Potsdam. The civil parishes ("Ortsteile") Fresdorf, Stücken and Wildenbruch l ...
near
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, but he grew up in Switzerland (in St. Moritz). He attended the
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
and enrolled in
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
(New York City) to study medicine, but he soon dropped out to pursue a career in acting. His father, a businessman, cut off his allowance after he embarked seriously on an acting career. In 1943, during the filming of ''
Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...
'', Kreuger was almost killed in a dramatic scene because the director almost forgot to say "cut". He was quoted by the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'':
I was running across the dunes when Tambul jumped on top of me and pressed my head into the sand to suffocate me. Only
Zoltán Zoltán () is a Hungarian masculine given name. The name days for this name are 8 March and 23 June in Hungary, and 7 April in Slovakia. Zoltána is the feminine version. Notable people * Zoltán of Hungary * Zoltan Bathory, guitarist of heavy ...
forgot to yell cut, and Ingram was so emotionally caught up in the scene that he kept pressing my face harder and harder. Finally, I went unconscious. Nobody knew this. Even the crew was transfixed, watching this dramatic "killing." If Zoltán hadn't finally said cut, as an afterthought, it would have been all over for me.
Kreuger's first major film credit was in '' Mademoiselle Fifi'', a
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
release that is set in the Franco-Prussian War. Kreuger was primarily offered roles in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
films as a German officer, prompting him to complain about being typecast as a Nazi. One of Kreuger's few opportunities to play a non-Nazi role was in
1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
's '' Unfaithfully Yours'', in which he played
Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what ...
's personal assistant. When Kreuger asked
Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...
for better roles, Zanuck reportedly replied: "What's your hurry? With your looks, you'll be good at 50." Kreuger was once the third most-requested male pinup at
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, after
Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include '' Jesse James'', ...
and John Payne. He briefly returned to Europe and starred in several
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
films. He returned to the United States in 1955 after being injured in a car accident in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, France. His last film was '' The St. Valentine's Day Massacre'' in
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...
. He also had a number of roles in television in the 1950s and 1960s, including two guest appearances on ''
Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...
'' and five on ''
77 Sunset Strip ''77 Sunset Strip'' is an American television Private investigator#PIs in fiction, private detective drama series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith (actor), Roger Smith, Richard Long (actor), Richard Long (fr ...
''.


Personal life

Kreuger was a successful real estate investor, primarily in properties in
Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...
. He lived in Beverly Hills and had a second home in
Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
. He enjoyed skiing and participated in that sport until he was 87. Kreuger was married in 1951, in what he subsequently described as "three years of bliss, three years of hell." He had a son prior to an acrimonious divorce. He died on 12 July 2006, eleven days before his 90th birthday, at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
following a
stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
.


Partial filmography

*''
Mystery Sea Raider ''Mystery Sea Raider'' is a 1940 American drama war film directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Carole Landis, Henry Wilcoxon and Onslow Stevens. Plot A woman (Carole Landis) and a U.S. captain (Henry Wilcoxon) foil a German spy's (Onslow Stev ...
'' (1940) – Franz, German Seaman *''
Arise, My Love ''Arise, My Love'' is a 1940 American romantic comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland and Dennis O'Keefe. It was made by Paramount Pictures and written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Jacques T ...
'' (1940) – German Sentry (uncredited) *'' Man Hunt'' (1941) – German Attaché (uncredited) *'' The Deadly Game'' (1941) – Lieutenant *'' International Squadron'' (1941) – Flyer (uncredited) *'' A Yank in the R.A.F.'' (1941) – German Pilot (uncredited) *'' The Purple V'' (1943) – Walter Heyse *''
The Moon Is Down ''The Moon Is Down'' is a novel by American writer John Steinbeck. Fashioned for adaptation for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian King Haakon VII Freedom Cross, it was published by Viking Press in March 1942. The story ...
'' (1943) – Orderly (uncredited) *''
Hangmen Also Die! ''Hangmen Also Die!'' is a 1943 noir war film directed by the Austrian director Fritz Lang and written by John Wexley from a story by Bertolt Brecht (credited as Bert Brecht) and Lang. The film stars Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Brian Donlevy, W ...
'' (1943) – Gestapo Officer (uncredited) *'' Tonight We Raid Calais'' (1943) – German Soldier (uncredited) *''
Edge of Darkness ''Edge of Darkness'' is a British television drama serial produced by BBC Television in association with Lionheart Television International and originally broadcast in six 55-minute episodes in late 1985. A mixture of crime drama and politica ...
'' (1943) – German Co-Pilot (uncredited) *''
Action in the North Atlantic ''Action in the North Atlantic'', also known as ''Heroes Without Uniforms'', is a 1943 American black-and-white war film from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by Jerry Wald, directed by Lloyd Bacon, that stars Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey a ...
'' (1943) – German U-Boat Sailor on Microphone (uncredited) *''
Background to Danger ''Background to Danger'' is a 1943 World War II spy film starring George Raft and featuring Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. Based on the 1937 novel '' Uncommon Danger'' by Eric Ambler and set in politically neutral Turke ...
'' (1943) – Chauffeur (uncredited) *''
Secret Service in Darkest Africa ''Secret Service in Darkest Africa'' is a 1943 Republic serial. It was Republic's thirtieth serial, of the sixty-six produced by the studio. It was a sequel to ''G-Men vs. the Black Dragon'' released earlier in 1943, again starring Rod Camero ...
'' (1943) – Ernst Muller *''
Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...
'' (1943) – Capt. von Schletow *'' The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler'' (1943) – Nazi Youth leader *''
None Shall Escape ''None Shall Escape'' is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial. Alexander Knox plays Wilhelm Grimm, a Nazi officer who is on trial, and the story unfolds th ...
'' (1944) – Lt. Gersdorf *''
The Hitler Gang ''The Hitler Gang'' is a 1944 American pseudo-documentary film directed by John Farrow, which traces the political rise of Adolf Hitler. Described as a "documentary-propaganda" film by its studio, Paramount Pictures, the historical drama is based ...
'' (1944) – Young SS Officer (uncredited) *'' Mademoiselle Fifi'' (1944) – Lt. von Eyrick – Called 'Fifi' *''
Hotel Berlin ''Hotel Berlin'' is an American drama film set in Berlin near the close of World War II, made by Warner Bros. in late 1944 to early 1945. Directed by Peter Godfrey, it stars Faye Emerson, Helmut Dantine, Raymond Massey and Andrea King. It is b ...
'' (1945) – Major Otto Kauders *'' Escape in the Desert'' (1945) – Lt. Von Kleist *'' Paris Underground'' (1945) – Capt. Kurt von Weber *''
The Spider The Spider is an American pulp-magazine hero of the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by editor Harry Steeger and written by a variety of authors for 118 monthly issues of ''The Spider'' from 1933 to 1943. A 119th Spider novel manuscrip ...
'' (1945) – Ernest, alias The Great Garonne *''
The Dark Corner ''The Dark Corner'' is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix and Mark Stevens.. The film was not a commercial success but has since been described as a "Grade A exampl ...
'' (1946) – Anthony Jardine *'' Sentimental Journey'' (1946) – Walt Wilson *'' Unfaithfully Yours'' (1948) – Tony Windborn *''Spy Hunt'' (1950) – Captain Heimer *'' Crown Jewels'' (1950) – Paul Regner *''Herzen im Sturm'' (1951) – Jens Wulf *'' The Blue Hour'' (1953) – Dulong *''
La Paura ''Fear'' ( it, La Paura or german: Angst) is a 1954 German-Italian drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring his wife Ingrid Bergman. It is loosely based on the Stefan Zweig novella ''Fear''. Rossellini created it because he wanted ...
'' (1954) – Erich Baumann *''The Missing Scientists'' (1955) – Max Anders *''
The Enemy Below ''The Enemy Below'' is a 1957 DeLuxe Color war film in CinemaScope about a battle between an American destroyer escort and a German U-boat during World War II. Produced and directed by Dick Powell, the movie stars Robert Mitchum and Curt Jürg ...
'' (1957) – Von Holem *'' Legion of the Doomed'' (1958) – Capt. Marcheck *'' The St. Valentine's Day Massacre'' (1967) – James Clark


Television

*''
77 Sunset Strip ''77 Sunset Strip'' is an American television Private investigator#PIs in fiction, private detective drama series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith (actor), Roger Smith, Richard Long (actor), Richard Long (fr ...
'' (1958–1963, multiple episodes) – Paul Van Dehn / Rafael Galindos / Kurt Weibel / Kurt Heller / John Luder *''
Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...
'' (1959–1964, multiple episodes) – Hans Breel / Karl Kadar *''
Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
'' (1961) – Otto Weller *''
Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama series that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American sol ...
'' (1963–1965) Two episodes, "Glow Against The Sky" as Captain Neubauer & "Finest Hour" as Major Werner *''
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...
'' (1964) – Stefan Valder *'' Mission: Impossible'' (1967) – Polya *''
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
'' (1976–1977) Two episodes, "The Feminum Mystique: Part 1" as Major Hemmschler & "Anschluss '77" as Koenig


References


External links

* * *
Nelson, Valerie J. (2006, July 19). ''Kurt Kreuger, 89; Actor Chafed at Being Typecast as a Nazi in 1940s War Movies''. The Los Angeles Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kreuger, Kurt 1916 births 2006 deaths 20th-century German male actors People from the Province of Brandenburg American male television actors American male film actors German male television actors German male film actors German emigrants to the United States Male actors from Beverly Hills, California Alumni of the London School of Economics People with acquired American citizenship 20th-century American male actors