Wilhelm von Homburg
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| Wilhelm von Homburg | |
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 Wilhelm von Homburg as Vigo |
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| Born | Norbert Grupe August 25, 1940 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | March 10, 2004 (aged 63) Puerto Vallarta, Mexico |
Wilhelm von Homburg (born Norbert Grupe; August 25, 1940 – March 10, 2004) was a German wrestler, boxer, and film actor most noted for his portrayal of Vigo the Carpathian in the 1989 film Ghostbusters II.
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[edit] Wrestling
Homburg was born in the German capital Berlin. In 1945, as Allied forces air raids took over Berlin, his family chose to live in West Germany. Over time, Homburg developed a muscular body, and his father Richard, who was a baker of profession, introduced him to wrestling. Homburg and his family moved to the United States in the 1950s, and he and his father fought across the states on some wrestling associations. It was in the U.S. where he dropped his real name Norbert Grupe for marketing reasons, due to his last name being pronounced "Groupie" and took the name "Wilhelm von Homburg".
During his stint as a wrestler, Homburg was enticed to his bad guy character. He became interested in boxing after Emile Griffith's fateful third bout with Benny Paret. Homburg made his professional boxing debut on July 20, 1962, drawing (tying) over four rounds with Sam Wyatt in Los Angeles. Over the span of eight years, he had 46 bouts with 29 wins in the light heavyweight and heavy weight classes.
[edit] Boxing
Homburg was a highly successful boxer during the early stages of his career, and he allegedly wanted to hide his humble beginnings from his German countrymen and women, so he adopted the name "Wilhem von Homburg" and gave himself the nickname "Prinz" ("Prince"), in order to create an aura of royalty around himself and lead Germans to believe that he, indeed, had a posh childhood. His nickname and childhood aura were later adopted by British boxer Prince Naseem Hamed.
Homburg's first boxing victory came on September 16, 1962, when he knocked out Bob Brown in the third round at San Diego. On October 25, he lost for the first time, being knocked out in round three by Freeman Harding in the third round at Los Angeles. Eight victories followed, including two over Clifford Gray, before he drew against Tommy Merrill, June 1, 1963, in Las Vegas. Homburg won three of his next five fights, then returned home with a record of 17-3-2. He settled in the city of Hamburg and was managed by Willi Zeller in Germany. Homburg held his German professional boxing debut on May 8, 1964, when he was held to a ten round draw by Ulli Ritter. However, he went on to win seven of his next ten bouts, being described by German press at the time as a "promising newcomer" and using his fight earnings to move to the posh Hamburg neighborhood of St. Pauli.
Homburg got his first championship try on November 19, 1966, when he contested Piero del Papa for the EBU regional Light Heavyweight title in Berlin. Homburg was defeated by an eleventh round disqualification against Del Papa, who later lost by a first round knockout to Vicente Rondon in a challenge for the WBA World Light Heavyweight title.
For his part, Homburg returned to winning on December 9, only three weeks after his defeat against Del Papa, knocking out Archie McBride in nine rounds at Frankfurt. After winning three more fights, losing one and drawing one, he faced the well respected Gerard Zech, who sported a 33-8-3 record, in an eliminator for the German Light Heavyweight championship. That fight was held on November 8, 1968. Initially declared a loser by a ten round decision, Homburg nevertheless had his hands raised as winner of the contest when it was discovered that the referee, who also acted as official judge, had made a mathematical mistake when he tabulated his scorecard after the bout had finished, and he actually had Homburg, not Zech, as the fight's winner.
Homburg next faced Guido Rinaldi, who lost a fifteen round decision to Archie Moore for the world Light Heavyweight title, three times in 1969, beating him in their first fight by a fifth round knockout, losing a ten round decision and winning their third clash, by an eighth round knockout. The latter would turn to be his last victory.
Homburg went on boxing, but he lost his next four fights, including defeats at the hands of Oscar Bonavena and Jurgen Blin. On December 11, 1970, he held his last fight, losing by a ten round decision to Rudiger Schmidtke in Cologne. Homburg retired from boxing with a record of 29 wins, 11 losses and 6 draws in 46 bouts, with 24 wins coming by knockout.
[edit] Film career
In 1965, Homburg made his screen debut with a small role in World War II epic Morituri alongside Marlon Brando. The following year he appeared in another war film, Torn Curtain, with Paul Newman where he also had a small part.
After being defeated in the boxing ring by Oscar Bonavena in 1969, Homburg made an appearance on German TV the next day. After the reporter Rainer Günzler had made some snide remarks about his boxing career and his flamboyant lifestyle, Homburg sat through the 10 minute live interview not answering any of Günzler's questions, only putting on a sarcastic smile that can be later seen in 1989 film Ghostbusters II.
Homburg appeared in a number of films up to the 1980s with only small roles in films like The Wrecking Crew with Sharon Tate and Dean Martin, where Homburg plays the character Gregor. After 1977, Homburg's career in movies went into hiatus when he was sentenced for two years and three months in jail for "physical injury" (possibly assault) and "activities in prostitution". It has been reported that Homburg has spent about five years behind bars in his life. In 1988 Homburg made his big screen return in the action thriller Die Hard with Alan Rickman and Andreas Wisniewski. Homburg plays James, a part of the German terrorist group that plans to rob the Nakatomi Tower; Homburg is only seen in three scenes of the film where his character meets his demise courtesy of a DIY bomb from John McClane (Bruce Willis). From there, Homburg appeared in the 1989 movie blockbuster sequel Ghostbusters II where he plays Vigo the Carpathian, a deranged 15th Century Eastern European tyrant (based loosely on Vlad Ţepeş), the role for which Homburg is probably most well known and recognised. After Ghostbusters II, Homburg appeared in a handful of films up to 1994, when he appeared in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness playing Simon.
Homburg also appeared as Charles Diggs in Diggstown (1992) alongside James Wood. The movie centers around his character. It was a role where, Charles Diggs, is a boxer that had brain damage and didn't speak as a result of a fight.
[edit] Lifestyle
Homburg led a very public life, perhaps more public than many boxers who have reached world champion status. Because of this, many of his affairs became scandalous. Thinking of a future after boxing, he launched a career as an actor, debuting in 1965's "Morituri".
Homburg was at various times nicknamed "the boxer Beatle" (because of the long hair he sported during his fights) and "the German answer to Muhammad Ali" (because of his takes on 1960s issues such as music and other topics). His smoking habit was widely known; he entered rings with a cigar in his mouth many times, and smoking is almost forbidden for professional boxers. Many German youths began to imitate his acts.
Homburg was a rebellious person, and he moved to St. Pauli's red district, becoming involved with drugs and sex. Homburg was constantly followed by papparazzi, who documented his life hanging out with drug dealers, pimps, and a local Hells Angels chapter.
Homburg was accused of a number of crimes, such as extortion, pimping and drug dealing. He spent five years in jail, and later moved to Los Angeles, California permanently.
[edit] Return to the United States
Far from the German limelight, Homburg tried to remake his life, retaking his career as an actor, this time in Hollywood. He enjoyed the company of dogs and horse riding at the famed Griffith Park. In Los Angeles, he lived in an apartment which he decorated with mementos from his boxing career.
[edit] Death
In his later years Homburg lived in Los Angeles and reportedly toured the surrounding area with his dog in an old VW camper van. On 10 March 2004, a destitute Homburg died in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, of cancer, only a few years after German moviemaker Gerd Kroske produced a prize winning documentary on Homburg's life called The Boxing Prince" (Der Boxprinz) which was released in 2002.
