Wolfgang Preiss
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1910-02-27
Day of Death
2002-11-27 (92 years old)
Place of Birth
Nuremberg, Germany
Wolfgang Preiss
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 at Nuremberg - 27 November 2002 at Baden-Baden) was a German theatre, film and television actor.
The son of a teacher, in the early 1930s Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck, making his stage début in Munich in 1932. He went to appear in various theatre productions in Heidelberg, Königsberg, Bonn, Bremen, Stuttgart and Berlin.
In 1942 he made his film début - he was exempted from military service specifically - in the UFA production Die grosse Liebe with Zarah Leander. After the end of the Second World War Preiss returned to the theatre, and from 1949 worked extensively dubbing films into German.
In 1954 he returned to film acting, appearing in Alfred Weidenmann's Canaris. The following year Preiss played the lead role of Claus von Stauffenberg in Falk Harnack's film Der 20. Juli, which dramatised the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. This role brought Preiss to popular attention and also the 1956 Federal Film Award.
From now on Preiss was largely typecast in the role of the upright and obligation-conscious German officer to the other A-list actor playing the Fanatic (I.E. Paul Scofeld in The Train) a part he played in many films, later reprising it in numerous international productions, predominantly in Italy and the USA, while occasionally playing a more typically cynical or brutal Nazi officer.
Preiss appeared in such productions as The Longest Day (1962), Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963), and with Jean-Paul Belmondo in Is Paris Burning? (1966). He starred alongside Burt Lancaster in John Frankenheimer's The Train (1964), Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express (1965), Robert Mitchum in Anzio (1968), with Richard Burton, in the title role of Erwin Rommel in Raid on Rommel (1971), and The Boys From Brazil (1978) with Gregory Peck. He also appeared in several Italian language films, credited as "Luppo Prezzo", and played Field Marshal Von Rundstedt in Richard Attenborough's all-star war epic A Bridge Too Far (1977).
In addition, for the cinema-going public of West Germany he became the epitome of the evil genius in his role as Doctor Mabuse, a role he first played in 1960 (following Rudolf Klein-Rogge) in Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. He went on to play the role four more times.
In the 1980s Preiss turned to television, notably playing General Walther von Brauchitsch in the American TV mini-series Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the books of Herman Wouk.
In 1987 received a second Federal Film Award for his outstanding work in film.
In film dubbing Preiss provided the voice for such actors as Lex Barker, Christopher Lee, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Richard Widmark, as well as that of Conrad Veidt as "Major Strasser" in the remastered version of Casablanca.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Wolfgang Preiss, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Acting
(2018)
Die 1000 Glotzböbbel vom Dr. Mabuse
as Dieter Gekeler (archive footage)
(1996)
(1990)
Dr. M
as Kessler
(1989)
Land der Väter, Land der Söhne
as Bernauer
(1989)
Mrs. Harris fährt nach Monte Carlo
as Earl of Wereford
(1987)
The Second Victory
as Father Albertus
(1987)
Mrs. Harris fährt nach Moskau
as Earl of Wereford
(1987)
Mrs. Harris - Der geschmuggelte Henry
as Earl of Wereford
(1987)
(1985)
Forget Mozart
as Baron Gottfried van Swieten
(1984)
Die Dame und die Unterwelt
as Berthold Kampe
(1984)
Ein Mann namens Parvus
as Brockdorff-Rantzau
(1984)
Mrs. Harris - Freund mit Rolls Royce
as Earl of Wereford
(1982)
Mrs. Harris - Ein Kleid von Dior
as Earl of Wereford
(1981)
Ghost of Love
as Zighi
(1980)
The Formula
as Franz Tauber
(1979)
Bloodline
as Julius Prager
(1979)
Ike
as FM Alfred Jodl
(1978)
The Boys from Brazil
as Lofquist
(1978)
Die Anstalt
as Dr. Reinecke
(1977)
A Bridge Too Far
as Field Marshal Karl R.G. Von Rundstedt
(1977)
The Standard
as Oberst
(1975)
The Big Delirium
as Artmann
(1975)
Die Insel der Krebse
as General
(1974)
(1974)
Die Kriegsbraut
as von Bogendorf
(1973)
Diamantenparty
as Konsul Eduard van Düren
(1973)
(1972)
The Master Touch
as Miller
(1972)
The Salzburg Connection
as Felix Zauner
(1972)
(1971)
Raid on Rommel
as Gen. Erwin Rommel
(1971)
The Fifth Cord
as Police inspector
(1971)
The Bloodstained Butterfly
as The Prosecutor
(1970)
Peenemünde
as Oberst Dornberger
(1970)
Sir Henri Deterding
as Sir Henri Deterding
(1970)
General Oster – Verräter oder Patriot?
as Generalmajor Oster
(1970)
Das Haus Lunjowo
as Generalmajor Lattmann
(1970)
Der Minister und die Ente
as Minister
(1969)
Hannibal Brooks
as Col. von Haller
(1969)
Battle of the Commandos
as Colonel Ackerman
(1969)
(1969)
Hürdenlauf
as Exzellenz Lohmüller
(1969)
(1968)
Anzio
as Field Marshal Albert Kesselring
(1968)
Der Fall Petkov
as Dr. Georgi Dimitrov
(1968)
Tamara
as Father Bricks
(1968)
Flachsmann als Erzieher
as Flachsmann
(1968)
Meinungsverschiedenheiten
as Anthony Wilcox
(1967)
Jack of Diamonds
as Wilhelm Von Schenk
(1967)
Spy Today, Die Tomorrow
as Sebastian (BND chief)
(1967)
Dead Run
as Noland
(1967)
Jungfrau aus zweiter Hand
as Leiter der Mordkommission
(1967)
Death on a Rainy Day
as Dr. Angus Cromwell
(1967)
Wo liegt Jena?
as Robert
(1966)
Is Paris Burning?
as Capitaine Ebernach
(1966)
Samba
as Parisius
(1966)
To Skin a Spy
as Chalieff
(1966)
Das Leben in meiner Hand
as Minister
(1966)
Der Fall Kapitän Behrens. Fremdenlegionäre an Bord
as Kapitän Behrens
(1965)
Von Ryan's Express
as Major Von Klemment
(1965)
The Spy Who Went Into Hell
as Captain Parker
(1965)
(1964)
The Train
as Maj. Herren
(1964)
Backfire
as Grenner
(1964)
100 Horsemen
as Sheik Abengalbon
(1964)
The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse
as Dr. Mabuse
(1964)
Cave of the Living Dead
as Prof. von Adelsberg
(1964)
Die erste Legion
as Dr. Peter Morell
(1964)
Frühstück mit dem Tod
as Staatsanwalt Ted Talbot
(1963)
(1963)
Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard
as Geist von Dr. Mabuse
(1963)
The Mad Executioners
as Morel Smith
(1963)
The Black Cobra
as Stanislas Raskin
(1963)
Das tödliche Patent
as Charles Reese
(1963)
Leb wohl, mein Traum
as James Merrill
(1962)
The Longest Day
as Maj. Gen. Max Pemsel
(1962)
The Counterfeit Traitor
as Colonel Nordoff
(1962)
Lafayette
as Baron Kalb
(1962)
The Invisible Dr. Mabuse
as Dr. Krone / Dr. Mabuse
(1962)
The Terror of Doctor Mabuse
as Dr. Mabuse
(1962)
Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt
as Staatsanwalt Soldan
(1961)
The Return of Dr. Mabuse
as Dr. Mabuse
(1961)
Riviera-Story
as Arthur Dahlberg
(1961)
Confessions of a Sixteen-Year-Old
as Günther Brandt
(1960)
Mill of the Stone Women
as Doctor Loren Bolem
(1960)
Mistress of the World - Part I
as Dr. Henrik Brandes
(1960)
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
as Prof. Jordan/Peter Cornelius/Dr. Mabuse
(1960)
Mistress of the World - Part II
as Brandes
(1960)
Darkness Fell on Gotenhafen
as Dr. Beck
(1959)
Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?
as Major Linkmann
(1959)
Konto ausgeglichen
as Robert Jacobi
(1959)
Doctor Without Scruples
as Dr. Westorp
(1959)
Gorilla's Waltz
as Otto Lohn
(1959)
Roses for the Prosecutor
as Generalstaatsanwalt
(1959)
Prisoner of the Volga
as General Gorew
(1959)
Straße der Gerechten
as Joseph Blake
(1958)
The Green Devils of Monte Cassino
as Oberstabsarzt Munkler
(1958)
Grabenplatz 17
as Kriminalkommissar Dr. Jäger
(1958)
The Girl with the Cat Eyes
as Carlo Gormann
(1958)
The Italians They Are Crazy
as Hans
(1958)
Ich war ihm hörig
as Dr. Leipold
(1957)
Stresemann
as Heinz Becker
(1957)
Sharks and Little Fish
as U-Bootkommandant Lüttke
(1957)
Schinderhannes
as Gendarm Adam
(1957)
Eurydice
as Dulac
(1957)
Der Banditendoktor
as Amerikaner
(1956)
Anastasia: the Czar's Last Daughter
as Ein Journalist
(1956)
Like Once Lili Marleen
as Alfred Linder
(1956)
Johannisnacht
as Mac Fadden
(1956)
Before Sundown
as Dr. Hahnefeld, Syndikus der Clausen-Werke
(1956)
Von der Liebe besiegt
as Mario Clar
(1955)
The Plot to Assassinate Hitler
as Oberst Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
(1955)
Der Cornet
as Freiherr von Pirovano
(1955)
Oberarzt Dr. Solm
as Dr. Hartung
(1954)
Canaris
as Oberst Holl
(1951)
(1943)
The Crew of the Dora
as Staffelarzt Dr. Wagner
(1942)
The Great Love
as Oberleutnant von Etzdorf