Karl Stepanek
Acting
Born: 1899-10-27 in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
Biography
Though born in Czechoslovakia, actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany (as Karl Stepanek) in the years before World War II. Stepanek fled to England in 1940, where, like many European refugee actors, he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains. He tried to stay away from out-and-out Nazi roles, but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepanek's screen characters. One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart; Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol (1949). Commuting between London and Hollywood, Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II, usually on the wrong side, into such '60s films as Sink the Bismarck! (1960), I Aim at the Stars (1960) and Operation Crossbow (1965).
Known For
No Hiding Place
Professor Remi
The Third Man
Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
Das Kriminalmuseum
Dr. Robert Großmann
The Heroes of Telemark
Hartmuller
Sink the Bismarck!
Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'
Operation Crossbow
Prof. Hoffer
Anastasia
Mikhail Vlados
The Fallen Idol
First Secretary
State Secret
Dr. Revo
Pozdní láska
Our Man in Havana
Dr. Braun
Affair in Trinidad
Walters
Brainwashed
Baranow
The Games
Kubitsek
Three Fathers for Anna
Matschek
Counterblast
Professor Inman
The Cockleshell Heroes
Assistant Gestapo Officer
Armchair Theatre
The Bat
Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
Cairo Road
Edouardo Pavlis
Secret Mission
Major Lang
Alles Schwindel
Clubdiener
Conspirator
Radek
Devil Doll
Dr. Heller
The File of the Golden Goose
Mueller
Na růžích ustláno
No Highway in the Sky
Der Außenseiter
Otto Burian
War es der im 3. Stock?
Georg Kilby
City Beneath the Sea
Dwight Trevor
Tomorrow We Live
Seitz
The Traitor
Friederich Suderman
A Prize of Gold
Dr. Zachmann
Never Let Me Go
Commissar
Give Us This Day
Jaroslav
Another Experience
Rechtsanwalt
Operation Amsterdam
Diamond Merchant
Hotel Sacher
Franz
Man of the Moment
Lom