Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Anton Diffring

 
Actor: Anton Diffring
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Oct 20, 1918 in Koblenz, Germany
  • Died: May 26, 1989 in Chateauneuf-de-Grasse France
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Drama, War
  • Career Highlights: Zeppelin, Fahrenheit 451, The Masks of Death
  • First Major Screen Credit: Lady of Vengeance (1957)

Biography

It was a strange twist of fate that many male German actors who fled their native country to escape Hitler, were subsequently cast in "Nazi" roles in British and American films. Such an actor was Anton Diffring, who emigrated to Canada in 1939, where he revitalized his stage career. After theatrical work in America, Diffring settled in Germany, where his film assignments were usually limited to cold-hearted German military officers--or, at the very least, untrustworthy gentlemen of vaguely European extraction. His films include I Am a Camera (the 1953 prototype for Cabaret), The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1955), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Where Eagles Dare (1969), Zeppelin (1977) and Victory (1981). As late as his final film, 1988's Les Predateurs De La Nuit, Diffring was portraying unregenerated advocates of the Third Reich. On television, Anton Diffring played Dr. Frankenstein in a 1958 Hammer Studios pilot film based on the Mary Shelley novel, and was seen as "The Inspector" on the European-lensed Robert Conrad weekly series Assignment Vienna (1972-73). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Wikipedia: Anton Diffring
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia

Anton Diffring (born Anton de Vient; October 20, 1918 – May 20, 1989) was a German actor who made a film career in Britain after 1950.

Diffring was born in Koblenz. He was best known in the English-speaking world for his portrayal of German officers, and mainly similarly sinister roles, in films such as Where Eagles Dare (1968) and The Heroes of Telemark (1965). He also starred in the film Operation Daybreak as the SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. He starred in the horror films The Man Who Could Cheat Death and Circus of Horrors. He also worked in quite a number of international films, such as Fahrenheit 451 directed by François Truffaut. His final performance was again as a Nazi character, for the BBC in the 1988 Doctor Who serial Silver Nemesis, in which he agreed to appear because the recording coincided with the Wimbledon Championships which he wanted to watch. Diffring worked up until the time of his death before finally succumbing to cancer. He died in his home at Chateauneuj-de-Grasse in the south of France.

References

  • Brian McFarlane, The Encyclopedia of British Film, Methuen, 2003.

External links

Stub icon This article about a German actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Anton Diffring".  Read more