Gert Fröbe
Gert Fröbe | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Fröbe at the premiere of Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines in 1965 | |
| Born | Karl Gerhart Fröbe 25 February 1913 Oberplanitz (near Zwickau), German Empire |
| Died | 5 September 1988 (aged 75) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1948–1987 |
| Political party | Nazi Party (1929–1937) |
| Spouse(s) | Karin Kuderer-Pistorius (1970–?) Beate Bach (1962–1968) Hannelore Görtz (1953–1959) Tatjana Iwanow Clara Peter |
| Children | 2 |
Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (German: [ˈɡɛɐ̯t ˈfʁøːbə] ; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger, as Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, as Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as Hotzenplotz in Der Räuber Hotzenplotz, General Dietrich von Choltitz in Is Paris Burning? and Colonel Manfred von Holstein in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
Early life and education
Fröbe was born in Oberplanitz, today part of Zwickau. He was initially a violinist, but he abandoned it for Kabarett and theatre work.[1]
He joined the Nazi Party in 1929 at the age of 16 and left in 1937.[2]
In September 1944, theatres in Germany were closed down and Fröbe was drafted into the German Army, where he served until the end of the war.[1]
After his party membership became known after World War II, Israel banned Fröbe's films until, Mario Blumenau, a Jewish survivor, revealed just eight weeks later that his life and his mother's were probably saved when Fröbe hid them from the Nazis.[3]
Career
Fröbe gained fame in one of the first German films made after the Second World War, called Berliner Ballade (The Ballad of Berlin, 1948). His character's name, "Otto Normalverbraucher" (lit. Otto Average Consumer), became the German term equivalent to "Average Joe".[4]
He was cast as the villain in the Swiss-West German-Spanish film Es geschah am hellichten Tag (It Happened in Broad Daylight, 1958), with the original screenplay written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. His role as a serial killer of children drew the attention of the producers of the James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964) and he was chosen to play one of the best remembered villains of the series, gold tycoon Auric Goldfinger. He later remarked, "The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain – a man without laughs."[5] Originally Richard Maibaum's planned screenplay for On Her Majesty's Secret Service was to reveal the series' main villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld as Goldfinger's twin brother with Fröbe returning to play the character, but this idea was abandoned after it was delayed in favor of You Only Live Twice.[6]
Fröbe made several appearances in all-star casts in the 1960s, including the films The Longest Day (1962), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Is Paris Burning? (1966),Triple Cross (1966) and Monte Carlo or Bust (1969).
During the 1980s, Fröbe played small parts in Mercedes Benz W123 commercials, helping to promote the coupé and the sedan.
Aside from acting, Fröbe was a prolific reciter of lyric poetry, especially that of Christian Morgenstern and Joachim Ringelnatz.[citation needed]
Death
Fröbe died in Munich in September 1988 at age 75 from a heart attack.[3] He was buried at the Waldfriedhof cemetery in Icking.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Der Herr vom andern Stern | Extra | German | Uncredited |
| Berliner Ballade | Otto Normalverbraucher | German | ||
| 1949 | After the Rain Comes Sunshine | Konstantin | German | |
| 1951 | Decision Before Dawn | German Corporal | English | Uncredited |
| 1952 | The Day Before the Wedding | Rundfunkreporter | German | |
| 1953 | Man on a Tightrope | Police Agent | English | Uncredited |
| Salto Mortale | Jan | German | ||
| A Heart Plays False | Briefüberbringer | German | ||
| The Postponed Wedding Night | Gondoliere | German | ||
| Arlette Conquers Paris | Manager Edmond Duval | German | ||
| Hochzeit auf Reisen | Herr Mengwasser | German | ||
| 1954 | The Little Town Will Go to Sleep | Oskar Blume | German | |
| Daybreak | Bit part | German | ||
| The Hunter's Cross | Kobbe | German | ||
| They Were So Young | Lobos | English | ||
| A Double Life | Mittelmeier | German | ||
| The Eternal Waltz | Gawriloff | German | ||
| 1955 | Special Delivery | Olaf | English | |
| The Dark Star | Deltorri | German | ||
| Ich weiß, wofür ich lebe | Pfeifer, Inspektor Jugendfürsorge | German | ||
| Mr. Arkadin | Munich Detective | English | ||
| Heroes and Sinners | Hermann | French | ||
| Das Forsthaus in Tirol | Bäuerle, Kaufmann | German | ||
| 1956 | The Girl from Flanders | Rittmeister Kupfer | German | |
| Ein Herz schlägt für Erika | Heubacher | German | ||
| Winter in the Woods | Gerstenberg | German | ||
| 1957 | Typhoon Over Nagasaki | Ritter | French | |
| The Girl and the Legend | Mr. Gillis | German | ||
| He Who Must Die | Patriarcheos | French | ||
| The Mad Bomberg | Kommerzienrat Gustav-Eberhard Mühlberg | German | ||
| Charming Boys | Edmond Petersen | French | ||
| The Heart of St. Pauli | Jabowski | German | ||
| 1958 | Polizeiaktion Dynamit | Hans | French | |
| Nasser Asphalt | Jupp | German | ||
| It Happened in Broad Daylight | Schrott | German | ||
| Rosemary | Willy Bruster | German | ||
| Grabenplatz 17 | Titu Goritsch | German | ||
| The Crammer | Freddy Blei | German | ||
| Das Mädchen mit den Katzenaugen | Tessmann | German | ||
| 1959 | Nick Knatterton's Adventure | Hugo | German | |
| Prisoner of the Volga | Professor | English | ||
| Douze heures d'horloge | Blanche | French | ||
| Jons und Erdme | Smailus | German | ||
| The Forests Sing Forever | Dag | German | ||
| Menschen im Hotel | Preysing | German | ||
| The Day the Rains Came | Doctor Albert Maurer | German | ||
| Der Schatz vom Toplitzsee | Johannes Grohmann | German | ||
| Old Heidelberg | Doctor Jüttner | German | ||
| 1960 | The High Life | Doctor Kölling | German | |
| Le Bois des amants | The General | French | ||
| Soldatensender Calais | Der Chef | German | ||
| The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse | Inspector Kras | German | ||
| Bis daß das Geld euch scheidet | Jupp Grapsch | German | ||
| Der Gauner und der liebe Gott | Paul Wittkowski | German | ||
| 1961 | The Green Archer | Abel Bellamy | German | |
| Via Mala | Jonas Lauretz | German | ||
| The Return of Doctor Mabuse [note 1] | Kommissar Lohmann | German | USA screening in 1966 | |
| Auf Wiedersehen | Angelo Pirrone | German | ||
| 1962 | Redhead | Kramer | German | |
| Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse | Kommissar Lohmann | German | ||
| The Longest Day | Sgt. Kaffeekanne | English | ||
| 1963 | Enough Rope | Melchior Kimmel | French | |
| Heute kündigt mir mein Mann | Alfred Paulsen | German | ||
| Three Penny Opera | Peachum | German | ||
| Banana Peel | Raymond Lachard | French | ||
| 1964 | Greed in the Sun | Castigliano | French | |
| Tonio Kröger | Policeman Peterson | German | ||
| Backfire | Karl Fehrman | French | ||
| Goldfinger | Auric Goldfinger | English | Dubbed into English by Michael Collins. | |
| 1965 | A High Wind in Jamaica | Dutch Captain | English | |
| Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines | Colonel Manfred von Holstein | English | ||
| Who Wants to Sleep? | Emil Claasen | German | ||
| 1966 | The Upper Hand | Walter | French | |
| Ganovenehre | Importen-Paul | German | ||
| Is Paris Burning? | General Dietrich von Choltitz | English | ||
| Triple Cross | Colonel Steinhager | English | ||
| 1967 | I Killed Rasputin | Grigori Rasputin | English | |
| Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon | Professor von Bulow | English | ||
| 1968 | Darling Caroline | Doctor Belhomme | French | |
| Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Baron Bomburst | English | ||
| 1969 | Monte Carlo or Bust [note 2] | Willi Schickel / Horst Muller | English | |
| 1971 | $ | Mr. Kessel | English | |
| 1972 | Ludwig | Father Hoffmann | English | |
| 1974 | Der Räuber Hotzenplotz | Hotzenplotz | German | |
| And Then There Were None | Wilhelm Blore | English | Dubbed into English by Robert Rietti. | |
| Nuits Rouges | Commissaire Sorbier | French | ||
| 1975 | Docteur Justice | Max Orwall | French | |
| 1976 | Death Rite | Vestar | French | |
| 1977 | Das Gesetz des Clans | Philip Brown | German | |
| The Serpent's Egg | Inspector Bauer | English | ||
| Tod oder Freiheit | Graf von Buttlar | German | ||
| 1978 | Der Schimmelreiter | Tede Volkerts | German | |
| Der Tiefstapler | Felix von Korn | German | ||
| 1979 | Bloodline | Inspector Max Hornung | English | |
| 1980 | The Umbrella Coup | Otto Krampe ("Whale") | French | |
| 1981 | The Falcon | Jug Bogdan | Serbo-Croatian | |
| 1986–1987 | The Little Vampire | Detective Gurrmeyer | German | TV Series, 13 episodes |
Notes
References
- ^ a b Fokart, Burt A. (7 September 1988). "Gert Frobe, 75; Portrayed Goldfinger in Bond Movie". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Hotzenplotz und Pickelhaube". kultiversum.de (in German). 2 February 2010.
- ^ a b "Gert Frobe, an Actor, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Associated Press. 6 September 1988. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
- ^ Deutsches Bühnen-Jahrbuch. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ Battersby, Matilda (2 January 2013). "'No, Mr Bond, I Expect You to Die': Showdown Between Goldfinger and Sean Connery Voted Greatest James Bond Moment". The Independent. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ Field, Matthew (2015). Some kind of hero : 007 : the remarkable story of the James Bond films. Ajay Chowdhury. Stroud, Gloucestershire. ISBN 978-0-7509-6421-0. OCLC 930556527.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
External links
- Gert Fröbe at IMDb
- Gert Fröbe at Find a Grave
- 1913 births
- 1988 deaths
- 20th-century German male actors
- Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- German Army personnel of World War II
- German male film actors
- German male television actors
- German resistance members
- Nazi Party members
- People from Zwickau
- People who rescued Jews during the Holocaust