Karl Stepanek
ActingAlso Known As
Karl Stepanek, Karel Štěpánek, Karel Stepanek
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).
Movies
(66 total)
The Third Man
as Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
The Fallen Idol
as First Secretary
Anastasia
as Mikhail Vlados
The Heroes of Telemark
as Hartmuller
Our Man in Havana
as Dr. Braun
Sink the Bismarck!
as Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'
Operation Crossbow
as Prof. Hoffer
Affair in Trinidad
as Walters
Devil Doll
as Dr. Heller
The Cockleshell Heroes
as Assistant Gestapo Officer
The Frozen Dead
as General Lubeck
The Captive Heart
as Forster
Conspirator
as Radek
City Beneath the Sea
as Dwight Trevor
Walk East on Beacon
as Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders
Never Let Me Go
as Commissar
The File of the Golden Goose
as Mueller
State Secret
as Dr. Revo
TV Shows
(3 total)
No Hiding Place
as Professor Remi
Das Kriminalmuseum
as Dr. Robert Großmann