Kurt Kreuger
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Kurt Kreuger (July 23, 1916 in Michendorf, Germany – July 12, 2006 in Los Angeles, California) was a Swiss-reared German actor.
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[edit] Life and Career
Kreuger was born in Michendorf, Germany but grew up in St. Moritz, Switzerland. He attended the London School of Economics and enrolled in Columbia University (New York City) to study medicine. Soon, Kreuger dropped out of Columbia to pursue a career in acting. Kreuger's father, a successful businessman, cut off his son's allowance after he embarked seriously on an acting career.
Kreuger's first major film credit was in Mademoiselle Fifi, a 1944 release that is set in the Franco-Prussian War. Kreuger was primarily offered roles in World War II movies as a German officer, prompting him to complain about being typecast as a Nazi. One of Kreuger's few opportunities to play a non-Nazi role was in 1948's Unfaithfully Yours, in which he played Rex Harrison's personal assistant. When Kreuger asked Darryl F. Zanuck for better roles, Zanuck reportedly replied: "What's your hurry? With your looks, you'll be good at 50."
Kreuger was once the third most-requested male pinup at 20th Century Fox, after Tyrone Power and John Payne.
Kreuger briefly returned to Europe and starred in several German movies. He returned to the United States in 1950 after being injured in a car accident.
Kreuger's last movie was The St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1967. He also had a number of roles in television in the 1950s and 1960s.
Kreuger was a successful real estate investor, primarily in properties in Beverly Hills, California. He lived in Beverly Hills and had a second home in Aspen, Colorado. He enjoyed skiing and participated in that sport until he was 87.
Kreuger was a lifelong bachelor. On 12 July 2006, he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of an age-related stroke.
[edit] Selected filmography
- Edge of Darkness (1943) with Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn
- Sahara (1943) with Humphrey Bogart
- Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
- Hotel Berlin (1945) with Fay Emerson and Peter Lorre
- The Dark Corner (1946)
- Unfaithfully Yours (1948) with Rex Harrison
- Herzen im Sturm (1951) in Germany
- Die Blaue Stunde (1953) in Germany with Harald Juhnke
- La Paura (Fear) (1954) with Ingrid Bergmann
- The Enemy Below (1957) with Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens
- Legion of the Doomed (1958)
- The Third Man (1959)
- The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)
[edit] Television
- 77 Sunset Strip (multiple episodes 1958-63)
- Route 66 (1961)
- Mission: Impossible (1967)
