Wolfgang Preiss

Acting

Born Feb 27, 1910

From Nuremberg, Germany

Died Nov 27, 2002

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.

Wolfgang Preiss

Known For

The Longest Day

A Bridge Too Far

The Train

Is Paris Burning?

Von Ryan's Express

The Boys from Brazil

Bloodline

The Cardinal

Dr. M

The Formula

Filmography — Acting

The Longest Day

A Bridge Too Far

The Train

Is Paris Burning?

Von Ryan's Express

The Boys from Brazil

Bloodline

The Cardinal

Dr. M

The Formula

Anzio

Ike

Mill of the Stone Women

Raid on Rommel

The Counterfeit Traitor

The Invisible Dr. Mabuse

The Fifth Cord

Hannibal Brooks

Lafayette

Mistress of the World - Part I

The Master Touch

Backfire

Canaris

Ghost of Love

The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse

The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse

Mistress of the World - Part II

The Return of Dr. Mabuse

Battle of the Commandos

The Salzburg Connection

The Italians They Are Crazy

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Prisoner of the Volga

The Bloodstained Butterfly

The Second Victory

Sharks and Little Fish

Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?

The Standard

The Spy Who Went Into Hell

Stresemann

The Great Love

Forget Mozart

Ich war ihm hörig

The Plot to Assassinate Hitler

Spy Today, Die Tomorrow

Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse

To Skin a Spy

Death on a Rainy Day

100 Horsemen

Roses for the Prosecutor

The Big Delirium

Mrs. Harris - Ein Kleid von Dior

Jack of Diamonds

Darkness Fell on Gotenhafen

The Green Devils of Monte Cassino

Ein Mann namens Parvus

Eurydice

Anastasia: the Czar's Last Daughter

Frühstück mit dem Tod

Cave of the Living Dead

Grabenplatz 17

Playgirl 70

X-Ray of a Killer

The Crew of the Dora

The Mad Executioners

Land der Väter, Land der Söhne

Dead Run