Anton Diffring

Anton Diffring

Diffring in The Beast Must Die (1974).
Born October 20, 1918(1918-10-20)
Koblenz, Germany
Died May 20, 1989(1989-05-20) (aged 70)
Châteauneuf de Grasse, France

Anton Diffring (October 20, 1918 – May 20, 1989), born Alfred Pollack, was a German actor.

Contents

Biography

Diffring (b. Anton de Vient or Alfred Pollack) was born in Koblenz. Very little is known about his life and his reasons for leaving Germany just before the war (Although it was mentioned in the Audio Commentary for Silver Nemesis that he left Germany in 1936 as he was not enamoured of fascism and further that he was homosexual). He was best known in the English-speaking world for his portrayal of German officers, and mainly similar roles, in films such as Where Eagles Dare (1968), and The Heroes of Telemark (1965).

Diffring played the role of the match commentator, in Escape to Victory (1981). He also starred in the film Operation Daybreak (1975) as the SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. In 1969, for a change, he 'switched sides' playing the role of a British officer in Uccidete Rommel! an Italian-produced war drama.

He starred in the horror films The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) and Circus of Horrors (1960). He also worked in quite a number of international films, such as Fahrenheit 451 (1966) directed by François Truffaut.

His final performance was again as a Nazi character, for the BBC in the 1988 Doctor Who serial Silver Nemesis, in which he agreed to appear because the recording coincided with the Wimbledon Championships which he wanted to watch. Working up to his death, he died in his home at Châteauneuf-Grasse in the south of France.

According to an interview taken with German co-actor Arthur Brauss in 2002 at the Terrorverlag, Diffring died of AIDS. [1], but in her web biography of Anton Diffring, Susan Edwards says that he died of cancer. [2]

Filmography

  • Where Eagles Dare (1968) .... Colonel Kramer
  • Man on Horseback (1969) .... Kurfürst
  • Uccidete Rommel (1969) .... Captain Richard Howell
  • L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco (1971) .... Ambassador Sobiesky
  • The Day the Clown Cried (1972) .... Captain Curt Runkel
  • Der Stoff, aus dem die Träume sind (1972)
  • Little Mother (1973) .... The Cardinal
  • Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält (1973) .... Balthasar von Ross
  • La morte negli occhi del gatto (1973) .... Dr. Franz
  • Sutjeska (1973) .... General Alexander Lohr
  • Tony Arzenta (1973) .... Grunwald
  • Shatter (1974) .... Hans Leber
  • The Beast Must Die (1974) .... Pavel
  • Borsalino & Co. (1974)
  • Die Antwort kennt nur der Wind (1974) .... John Keelwood
  • Operation Daybreak (1975) .... Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich
  • Potato Fritz (1976) .... Lieutnant Slade
  • The Swiss Conspiracy (1976) .... Franz Benninger
  • Die Liebesbriefe einer portugiesischen Nonne (1977) .... Old Priest
  • Vanessa (1977) .... Cooper
  • Waldrausch (1977)
  • L'imprécateur (1977) .... Ronson
  • Valentino (1977) .... Baron Long
  • Les Indiens sont encore loin (1977) .... Le professeur d'allemand
  • Son of Hitler (1978) .... Gernheim
  • Das Einhorn (1978) .... Blomich
  • Io sono mia (1978) .... Padre di Suna
  • Der Durchdreher (1979) .... Glorias erster Mann
  • Tusk (1980) .... John Morrison
  • Escape to Victory (1981) .... German - The Commentators
  • Der Schnüffler (1983) .... Colonel Henderson
  • S.A.S. à San Salvador (1983) .... Peter Reynolds
  • Marie Ward - Zwischen Galgen und Glorie (1985) .... Kardinal Millini
  • Operation Dead End (1986) .... Prof. Lang
  • Wahnfried (1986) .... Franz Liszt
  • Der Sommer des Samurai (1986) .... Wintrich
  • Faceless (1987) .... Dr. Karl Heinz Moser
  • Anna (1988) .... George Mamoulian

Selected television appearances

References

  1. ^ http://www.terrorverlag.de/events/brauss/index.htm Thurau, Karsten. "Interview mit Arthur Brauss vom 27.01.2002". Terrorverlag Alternative Music Webzine. 29 AUG 2010
  2. ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8613634 Find-a-Grave Biography of Anton Diffring. 8 APR 2004

External links