Wolfgang Preiss
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 at Nuremberg - 27 November 2002 at Baden-Baden) was a German theatre, film and television actor. The son of a teacher, in the early 1930s Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck, making his stage début in Munich in 1932. He went to appear in various theatre productions in Heidelberg, Königsberg, Bonn, Bremen, Stuttgart and Berlin. In 1942 he made his film début - he was exempted from military service specifically - in the UFA production Die grosse Liebe with Zarah Leander. After the end of the Second World War Preiss returned to the theatre, and from 1949 worked extensively dubbing films into German. In 1954 he returned to film acting, appearing in Alfred Weidenmann's Canaris. The following year Preiss played the lead role of Claus von Stauffenberg in Falk Harnack's film Der 20. Juli, which dramatised the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. This role brought Preiss to popular attention and also the 1956 Federal Film Award. From now on Preiss was largely typecast in the role of the upright and obligation-conscious German officer to the other A-list actor playing the Fanatic (I.E. Paul Scofeld in The Train) a part he played in many films, later reprising it in numerous international productions, predominantly in Italy and the USA, while occasionally playing a more typically cynical or brutal Nazi officer. Preiss appeared in such productions as The Longest Day (1962), Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963), and with Jean-Paul Belmondo in Is Paris Burning? (1966). He starred alongside Burt Lancaster in John Frankenheimer's The Train (1964), Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express (1965), Robert Mitchum in Anzio (1968), with Richard Burton, in the title role of Erwin Rommel in Raid on Rommel (1971), and The Boys From Brazil (1978) with Gregory Peck. He also appeared in several Italian language films, credited as "Luppo Prezzo", and played Field Marshal Von Rundstedt in Richard Attenborough's all-star war epic A Bridge Too Far (1977). In addition, for the cinema-going public of West Germany he became the epitome of the evil genius in his role as Doctor Mabuse, a role he first played in 1960 (following Rudolf Klein-Rogge) in Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. He went on to play the role four more times. In the 1980s Preiss turned to television, notably playing General Walther von Brauchitsch in the American TV mini-series Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the books of Herman Wouk. In 1987 received a second Federal Film Award for his outstanding work in film. In film dubbing Preiss provided the voice for such actors as Lex Barker, Christopher Lee, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Richard Widmark, as well as that of Conrad Veidt as "Major Strasser" in the remastered version of Casablanca. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wolfgang Preiss, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Credits
The Longest Day (1962)
as Maj. Gen. Max Pemsel
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
as Field Marshal Karl R.G. Von Rundstedt
Is Paris Burning? (1966)
as Capitaine Ebernach
Lafayette (1962)
as Baron Kalb
Dr. M (1990)
as Kessler
Ike (1979)
as FM Alfred Jodl
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
as Lofquist
Von Ryan's Express (1965)
as Maj. Von Klemment
Ghost of Love (1981)
as Zighi
Open Air (1996)
Actor
Playgirl 70 (1969)
Actor
Spy Today, Die Tomorrow (1967)
as Sebastian (BND chief)
The Train (1964)
as Maj. Herren
Anzio (1968)
as Field Marshal Albert Kesselring
Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt (1962)
as Staatsanwalt Soldan
Die Kriegsbraut (1974)
as von Bogendorf
Bloodline (1979)
as Julius Prager
Mill of the Stone Women (1960)
as Doctor Loren Bolem
Canaris (1954)
as Oberst Holl
Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1959)
as Major Linkmann
The Cardinal (1963)
Actor
Raid on Rommel (1971)
as Gen. Erwin Rommel
The Fifth Cord (1971)
as Police inspector
The Return of Dr. Mabuse (1961)
as Dr. Mabuse
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)
as Prof. Jordan / Peter Cornelius / Dr. Mabuse
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
as Colonel Nordoff
The Formula (1980)
as Franz Tauber
The Master Touch (1972)
as Miller
Prisoner of the Volga (1959)
as General Gorew
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1962)
as Dr. Mabuse
The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
as The Prosecutor
Eurydice (1957)
as Dulac
Scotland Yard Hunts Dr. Mabuse (1963)
as Geist von Dr. Mabuse
The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse (1964)
as Dr. Mabuse
Meinungsverschiedenheiten (1968)
as Anthony Wilcox
Das Leben in meiner Hand (1966)
as Minister
Backfire (1964)
as Grenner
The Big Delirium (1975)
as Artmann
The Spy Who Went Into Hell (1965)
as Captain Parker
Battle of the Commandos (1969)
as Colonel Ackerman
The Invisible Dr. Mabuse (1962)
as Dr. Krone / Dr. Mabuse
Roses for the Prosecutor (1959)
as Generalstaatsanwalt
100 Horsemen (1964)
as Sheik Abengalbon
Mistress of the World - Part I (1960)
as Dr. Henrik Brandes
Hannibal Brooks (1969)
as Col. von Haller
Falschmünzer am Werk (1951)
Actor
Straße der Gerechten (1959)
as Joseph Blake
A Little Chat with Dr. Mabuse -- An Interview with Wolfgang Preiss (2025)
as Himself
To Skin a Spy (1966)
as Chalieff
Du stirbst nicht allein - Ein deutscher Kriegspfarrer in Paris (1973)
as General
The Girl with the Cat Eyes (1958)
as Carlo Gormann
Der Banditendoktor (1957)
as Amerikaner
The Great Love (1942)
as Oberleutnant von Etzdorf
Mrs. Harris - Der geschmuggelte Henry (1987)
as Earl of Wereford
The Crew of the Dora (1943)
as Staffelarzt Dr. Wagner
Peenemünde (1970)
as Oberst Dornberger
Der Fall Kapitän Behrens. Fremdenlegionäre an Bord (1966)
as Kapitän Behrens
The Green Devils of Monte Cassino (1958)
as Oberstabsarzt Munkler
Tamara (1968)
as Father Bricks
Anastasia: the Czar's Last Daughter (1956)
as Ein Journalist
The Mad Executioners (1963)
as Morel Smith
Jack of Diamonds (1967)
as Wilhelm Von Schenk
The Salzburg Connection (1972)
as Felix Zauner
Death on a Rainy Day (1967)
as Dr. Angus Cromwell
Mrs. Harris fährt nach Monte Carlo (1989)
as Earl of Wereford
Die 1000 Glotzböbbel vom Dr. Mabuse (2018)
as Dieter Gekeler (archive footage)
Eine ungeliebte Frau (1974)
Actor
The Italians They Are Crazy (1958)
as Hans
Liebe, Love, l'Amour (1969)
Actor
Von der Liebe besiegt (1956)
as Mario Clar
Mistress of the World - Part II (1960)
as Brandes
Mrs. Harris - Freund mit Rolls Royce (1984)
as Earl of Wereford
The Second Victory (1987)
as Father Albertus
Wo liegt Jena? (1967)
as Robert
Land der Väter, Land der Söhne (1989)
as Bernauer
Dead Run (1967)
as Noland
Like Once Lili Marleen (1956)
as Alfred Linder
Samba (1966)
as Parisius
Cave of the Living Dead (1964)
as Prof. von Adelsberg
Confessions of a Sixteen-Year-Old (1961)
as Günther Brandt
Leb wohl, mein Traum (1963)
as James Merrill
Der Fall Petkov (1968)
as Dr. Georgi Dimitrov
Mrs. Harris - Ein Kleid von Dior (1982)
as Earl of Wereford
Jungfrau aus zweiter Hand (1967)
as Leiter der Mordkommission
The Plot to Assassinate Hitler (1955)
as Oberst Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Mrs. Harris fährt nach Moskau (1987)
as Earl of Wereford
Gorilla's Waltz (1959)
as Otto Lohn
Diamantenparty (1973)
as Konsul Eduard van Düren
Die sexuellen Wünsche der Deutschen (1972)
Actor
Stresemann (1957)
as Heinz Becker
Frischer Wind in alten Gassen (1951)
Actor
Before Sundown (1956)
as Dr. Hahnefeld, Syndikus der Clausen-Werke
Die Anstalt (1978)
as Dr. Reinecke
Flachsmann als Erzieher (1968)
as Flachsmann
Die Dame und die Unterwelt (1984)
as Berthold Kampe
Darkness Fell on Gotenhafen (1960)
as Dr. Beck
X-Ray of a Killer (1965)
Actor
The Standard (1977)
as Oberst
Riviera-Story (1961)
as Arthur Dahlberg
Ich war ihm hörig (1958)
as Dr. Leipold
Sharks and Little Fish (1957)
as U-Bootkommandant Lüttke
Grabenplatz 17 (1958)
as Kriminalkommissar Dr. Jäger
Frühstück mit dem Tod (1964)
as Staatsanwalt Ted Talbot
Doctor Without Scruples (1959)
as Dr. Westorp
Ein Mann namens Parvus (1984)
as Brockdorff-Rantzau
General Oster – Verräter oder Patriot? (1970)
as Generalmajor Oster
Hürdenlauf (1969)
as Exzellenz Lohmüller
Die Insel der Krebse (1975)
as General
Forget Mozart (1985)
as Baron Gottfried van Swieten
The Black Cobra (1963)
as Stanislas Raskin
Das tödliche Patent (1963)
as Charles Reese
Johannisnacht (1956)
as Mac Fadden
Schinderhannes (1957)
as Gendarm Adam
Sir Henri Deterding (1970)
as Sir Henri Deterding
Die erste Legion (1964)
as Dr. Peter Morell
Das Haus Lunjowo (1970)
as Generalmajor Lattmann
Lang soll er leben (1987)
Actor
Konto ausgeglichen (1959)
as Robert Jacobi
Der Minister und die Ente (1970)
as Minister
Der Cornet (1955)
as Freiherr von Pirovano
Oberarzt Dr. Solm (1955)
as Dr. Hartung