Helmut Dantine

Helmut Dantine (7 October 1918 – 2 May 1982) was an Austrian-American actor who often played Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s. His best-known performances are perhaps the German pilot in Mrs. Miniver and the desperate Bulgarian refugee in Casablanca, who tries gambling to obtain travel visa money for himself and his wife. As his acting career waned, he turned to producing.

According to one obituary, "He specialized in portrayals of Nazis, sometimes as the handsome but icy SS sadist battling Allied heroes, sometimes as a sympathetic German soldier forced, against his better judgment, to fight". As a young man, Dantine became involved in Vienna's anti-Nazi movement. In 1938, when he was 19 years old, the Nazis took over Austria during the Anschluss. Dantine was rounded up with hundreds of other opponents of the Third Reich and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp outside Vienna. Dantine was spotted by a talent scout from Warner Bros, who signed him to a contract. The studio kept him busy with roles in the World War II films, The Pied Piper (1942), Desperate Journey (1942) fighting Errol Flynn, and The Navy Comes Through (1942).

He had a sympathetic role in Casablanca (1942), as a young refugee trying and failing to earn money via gambling in order to purchase travel visas for him and his wife; he is helped by Humphrey Bogart. Warners began to give Dantine more sizeable roles in their "A" films, Watch on the Rhine (1943), Edge of Darkness (1943), playing a Nazi officer, again fighting Errol Flynn, and Mission to Moscow (1943), playing a sympathetic Russian.

Dantine's good looks caused him to receive a lot of fan mail and, in the words of one profile, "the studio began to realize it had something else besides a Hollywood Hitlerite on its hands." but the film appears not to have been made. Instead, he had a large role playing the villain in Northern Pursuit (1943), as a Nazi running loose in northern Canada fighting Errol Flynn again.

Warner Bros. later cast him in a sympathetic role in Passage to Marseille (1944), and he was one of several stars in Hollywood Canteen (1944). In 1944, exhibitors voting for "Stars of Tomorrow" picked Dantine at number 10.

Warners gave him a sympathetic lead in Hotel Berlin (1945) as the leader of the German underground. He was once again a Nazi on-the-run in Escape in the Desert (1945), considered to be a remake of The Petrified Forest. His last role for Warners was in the film noir Shadow of a Woman (1946). He then left the studio.

Freelancer Dantine was the lead in another film noir Whispering City (1947) for Eagle-Lion Films.

In 1947, he co-starred with Tallulah Bankhead in the Broadway play The Eagle Has Two Heads, replacing Marlon Brando. According to Jean Cocteau, Bankhead made alterations to the play, and the production was a flop, lasting only 29 performances.

Dantine was in No Time for Comedy on stage in Washington and also performed in the 1950 Broadway play Parisienne. He was also in Arms and the Man at Cambridge Summer Playhouse.

Dantine starred in the live but short-lived television series Shadow of the Cloak during the 1951–52 season. He had the lead in a B-movie, Guerrilla Girl (1953), then had a small role in the musical, Call Me Madam (1953), He was supported by Patricia Neal while starring in the British science fiction film Stranger from Venus (1953).

Dantine acted in the 1956 film production of Tolstoy's War and Peace as Dolokhov, a Cossack officer assigned to harrying the retreat of France's Napoleonic army from Moscow. He also had a small role in Alexander the Great (1956), Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957), and The Story of Mankind (1957). He played the lead role in Hell on Devil's Island (1957).

Dantine directed the 1958 military aviation film Thundering Jets, starring Rex Reason, and continued to act in the films Fräulein (1958) and Tempest (1958).

Producing As his acting career wound down, he became a vice-president of Hollywood mogul Joseph Schenck's company, Schenck Enterprises, in 1959;

In 1943, he was in a car accident and accused of hit-and-run. In January 1945 he was arrested for biting Ida Lupino's assistant on the arm during a New Year's Eve party; after apologizing to the assistant, he was released.

He became an American citizen in April 1944.

In 1947, he married Charlene Stafford Wrightsman (1927–1963), The couple had a son, Dana Wrightsman Dantine, before divorcing in 1950.

In 1958, Dantine married Nicola Schenck, daughter of Nicholas Schenck, one of the founders of Loews. His wife acted under the name Niki Dantine; the couple had three children: Dita, Nicola, and Shelley. In 1971, Helmut and Niki were divorced.

Death On 2 May 1982, Helmut Dantine died in Beverly Hills of a heart attack at age 63.

Partial filmography

Escape (1940) – Porter (uncredited) International Squadron (1941) – Flyer (uncredited) To Be or Not to Be (1942) – Co-Pilot (uncredited) Mrs. Miniver (1942) – German Flyer The Pied Piper (1942) – Aide Desperate Journey (1942) – German Co-Pilot (uncredited) The Navy Comes Through (1942) – Frightened Young German Seaman (uncredited) Casablanca (1942) – Jan Brandel (uncredited) Edge of Darkness (1943) – Captain Koenig Mission to Moscow (1943) – Maj. Kamenev Watch on the Rhine (1943) – Young Man Northern Pursuit (1943) – Col. Hugo von Keller Passage to Marseille (1944) – Garou Hollywood Canteen (1944) – Helmut Dantine Hotel Berlin (1945) – Dr. Martin Richter Escape in the Desert (1945) – Capt. Becker Shadow of a Woman (1946) – Dr. Eric Ryder Whispering City (1947) – Michel Lacoste Guerrilla Girl (1953) – Demetri Alexander Call Me Madam (1953) – Prince Hugo Stranger from Venus (1954) – The Stranger Alexander the Great (1956) – Nectenabus War and Peace (1956) – Dolokhov Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1956) – Lord Mewill Hell on Devil's Island (1957) – Paul Rigaud The Story of Mankind (1957) – Marc Antony Fräulein (1958) – Lt. Hugo Von Metzler Tempest (1958) – Svabrin Operation Crossbow (1965) – General Linz Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) – Max The Wilby Conspiracy (1975) – Prosecuting Counsel The Killer Elite (1975) – Vorodny The Fifth Musketeer (1979) – Spanish Ambassador (final film role)