Karel Štěpánek

Karel Štěpánek (29 October 189925 December 1980), sometimes credited as Karl Stepanek, was a Czech actor and singer. He spent many years in Austria and Germany, and generally played German-speaking roles onscreen. In 1939 he moved to the United Kingdom as a refugee from Nazism, and spent much of the rest of his career there.

Life and career Štěpánek was born in Brno (in present-day Czech Republic), then a part of Austria-Hungary, to František Štěpánek and Marie Dworzak. After training in acting and classical singing, he began his stage career there in 1920. A year later he moved to Vienna, where he worked at the Raimund Theater and Graz Opera. and acted on the West End. Beginning with 1942's Secret Mission, Štěpánek found a successful second career playing villainous Nazis in war films, joining a community of other German-speaking emigre actors like Conrad Veidt and Herbert Lom.

After the war, Štěpánek elected to remain in the UK and went on to appear in dozens of film and television roles, usually as a villain or other malefactor. He did make some appearances in West German films and TV during the 1960s. In 1951, he played the lead role of Napoleon in a West End run of George Bernard Shaw's The Man of Destiny.

Personal life Štěpánek was married to Hungarian-born actress Marianne Deeming (1899–1984).

Death Štěpánek died in London in 1980, at the age of 81. He was buried at North Sheen Cemetery in Kew.

Partial filmography

A Love, A Thief, A Department Store (1928) Berlin-Alexanderplatz (1931) Here's Berlin (1932) as Max Five from the Jazz Band (1932) as Jean Spies at the Savoy Hotel (1932) as Jackson A Song for You (1933) as Theo Bruckner Waltz War (1933) as Kellner Leopold Hermine and the Seven Upright Men (1935) as Ruckstuhl, Grundstückspekulant Die Werft zum grauen Hecht (1935) as Ladewig Der Auβenseiter (1935) as Otto Burian Stronger Than Regulations (1936) as Robert Wendland The Unknown (1936) as Manager at Regina's Signal in the Night (1937) as Korporal Tschepski (1937) as Attaché / Orlovsky Klatovští dragouni (1937) as Dance Master The Stars Shine (1938) as Oberbeleuchter Brandt Fools in the Snow (1938) as Rolf Pinkenkötter War es der im 3. Stock? (1939) as Georg Kilby (1939) as Lawyer Hotel Sacher (1939) as Franz Three Fathers for Anna (1939) The Leghorn Hat (1939) as Felix Die Kluge Schwiegermutter (1939) as Hans Giebel Drei Väter un Anna (1939) as Matschek Alles Schwindel (1940) as Clubdiener Women Are Better Diplomats (1941) as Kellner Secret Mission (1942) as Major Lang Tomorrow We Live (1943) as Seitz Escape to Danger (1943) as Franz von Brinkman They Met in the Dark (1943) as Riccardo The Captive Heart (1946) as Forster Counterblast (1948) as Professor Inman, Nazi Psychiatrist Broken Journey (1948) as Swiss Officer (uncredited) The Fallen Idol (1948) as First Secretary Conspirator (1949) as Radek The Third Man (1949) as Actor at Josefstadt Theatre (uncredited) Give Us This Day (1949) as Jaroslav Golden Arrow (1949) as Schroeder Cairo Road (1950) as Edouardo Pavlis State Secret (1950) as Dr. Revo The Third Visitor (1951) as Richard Carling No Highway (1951) as Mannheim (uncredited) Walk East on Beacon (1952) as Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders Affair in Trinidad (1952) as Walters City Beneath the Sea (1953) as Dwight Trevor Never Let Me Go (1953) as Commisar Rough Shoot (1953) as Diss Dangerous Cargo (1954) as Pliny Tale of Three Women (1954) as Alfred Dykemann (segment "Final Twist' story) A Prize of Gold (1955) as Zachmann Secret Venture (1955) as Zelinsky The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) as Assistant Gestapo Officer Man of the Moment (1955) as Lom Private's Progress (1956) as German Officer (uncredited) The Man in the Road (1956) as Dmitri Balinkev Anastasia (1956) as Mikhail Vlados The Traitor (1957) as Friederich Suderman West of Suez (1957) as Langford Operation Amsterdam (1959) as Diamond Merchant (uncredited) Our Man in Havana (1959) as Dr. Braun Sink the Bismarck! (1960) as Admiral Günther Lütjens I Aim at the Stars (1960) as Captain Dornberger Three Moves to Freedom (1960) as Baranow Terror After Midnight (1962) as Vater Stoddard Devil Doll (1964) as Dr. Heller Operation Crossbow (1965) as Prof. Hoffer Licensed to Kill (1965) as Henrik Jacobsen The Heroes of Telemark (1965) as Prof. Hartmuller Sperrbezirk (1966) as Inspector Wagner The Frozen Dead (1967) as General Lubeck Murderers Club of Brooklyn (1967) as Dyers Before Winter Comes (1969) as Count Kerassy The File of the Golden Goose (1969) as Mueller The Games (1970) as Kubitsek Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (1971) as Count Derassy (final film role)