Leonid Kinskey

Leonid Kinskey (April 17, 1903 – September 8, 1998) was a Russian-born American film and television actor, best known for his role as Sascha in the film Casablanca. His last name was sometimes spelled Kinsky.

Life and career Kinskey was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He started his career as a mime in various imperial theatres in Russia in the mid-1910s. In 1921, he fled Russia for Germany. He acted on stage in Europe and South America before arriving in New York City from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in January 1924. He joined the road production of Al Jolson's musical Wonder Bar, and in 1926 he made an appearance in the silent film The Great Depression, In 1965, Kinskey appeared in the pilot episode of Hogan's Heroes as a Soviet soldier who was a prisoner-of-war. He decided not to join the cast of the series, as he was reported to be "uncomfortable playing let's-pretend with people in Nazi garb." His final roles on television came in 1971, as a professor on the series Mayberry R.F.D., a funeral director on O'Hara, U.S. Treasury, and a deli butcher on the sitcom The Chicago Teddy Bears.

After the mid-1950s, Kinskey spent little time on his acting career. He wrote and directed industrial films, owned a restaurant called Bublitschki on Sunset Strip, and wrote and translated stories about Russian life. His final marriage, in 1985 in New York, was to Tina York, who was 38 years younger. They remained married until 1998, when Kinskey died in Fountain Hills, Arizona, from complications of a stroke.

Filmography

The Big Broadcast (1932) as Ivan Trouble in Paradise (1932) as Russian Visitor (uncredited) Storm at Daybreak (1933) as Serbian Villager (uncredited) Duck Soup (1933) as Agitator Girl Without a Room (1933) as Gallopsky The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) as Hans - Conservatory Violinist (uncredited) Manhattan Melodrama (1934) as Trotskyite Slapping Poppa Rosen (uncredited) Change of Heart (1934) as Party Guest (uncredited) Strictly Dynamite (1934) as Garçon (uncredited) Hollywood Party (1934) as Jake the Cabbie (uncredited) Fugitive Road (1934) as Nicholas Petrovich,- Smuggler Straight Is the Way (1934) as Mechanic (uncredited) The Merry Widow (1934) as Shepherd (uncredited) Marie Galante (1934) as Arohnson (uncredited) We Live Again (1934) as Simon Kartinkin The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) as Snake Charmer (uncredited) The Gilded Lily (1935) as Vocal Teacher (uncredited) Les Misérables (1935) as Genflou Goin' to Town (1935) as Cecil - Interior Decorator (uncredited) I Live My Life (1935) as Waiter (uncredited) Peter Ibbetson (1935) as Prisoner (uncredited) Three Godfathers (1936) as Card Player (uncredited) The Road to Glory (1936) as Wounded Soldier Rhythm on the Range (1936) as Mischa A Son Comes Home (1936) as Hoodlum (uncredited) The General Died at Dawn (1936) as Stewart The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936) as Russian (uncredited) The Garden of Allah (1936) as Voluble Arab (uncredited) Love on the Run (1936) as Man on Train (uncredited) We're on the Jury (1937) as Professor Nicholas Krakin Espionage (1937) as Maxie Burgos Maytime (1937) as Student in Bar (uncredited) The Woman I Love (1937) (uncredited) Cafe Metropole (1937) as Artist The Girl from Scotland Yard (1937) as Mischa Married Before Breakfast (1937) as Mischa Lapidoff (uncredited) Meet the Boyfriend (1937) as Dr. Sokoloff Make a Wish (1937) as Moe One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) as Pianist at Mrs. Frost's Party (uncredited) The Sheik Steps Out (1937) as Allusi Ali My Dear Miss Aldrich (1937) as A Waiter Nothing Sacred (1937) as Ferdinand Roassare - Poet (uncredited) Wise Girl (1937) as Eccentric Greenwich Village Writer (uncredited) Outside of Paradise (1938) as Cafe Owner Ivan Petrovich The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) as Ivan (uncredited) A Trip to Paris (1938) as Emile Three Blind Mice (1938) as Young Man Professor Beware (1938) as Tableau Director (uncredited) Algiers (1938) as L'Arbi The Great Waltz (1938) as Dudelman Flirting with Fate (1938) as Pedro Lopez The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) as Artist Exile Express (1939) as David The Spellbinder (1939) as Harry Beldon - Saxophone Player On Your Toes (1939) as Ivan Boultonoff Day-Time Wife (1939) as Coco Everything Happens at Night (1939) as Groder He Stayed for Breakfast (1940) as Comrade Nicky Down Argentine Way (1940) as Tito Acuna So Ends Our Night (1941) as The Chicken That Night in Rio (1941) as Pierre Broadway Limited (1941) as Ivan Week-End in Havana (1941) as Rafael Ball of Fire (1941) as Prof. Quintana Lady for a Night (1942) as Boris Brooklyn Orchid (1942) as Ignatz Rachkowsky I Married an Angel (1942) as Zinski The Talk of the Town (1942) as Jan Pulaski Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) as Dorloff (uncredited) Casablanca (1942) as Sacha Cinderella Swings It (1943) as Vladimir Smitkin Let's Have Fun (1943) as Gregory Loosnikoff El circo (1943) as Cliente ruso zapatero Presenting Lily Mars (1943) as Leo Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) as Window Washer Five Were Chosen (1944) The Fighting Seabees (1944) as Johnny Novasky That's My Baby! (1944) as Doctor Svatsky Can't Help Singing (1944) as Koppa Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) as Rene Alimony (1949) as Joe Wood The Great Sinner (1949) as Bandleader in Park (uncredited) Nancy Goes to Rio (1950) as Ivan Putroff (uncredited) Honeychile (1951) as Chick Lister Gobs and Gals (1952) as Ivan The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) as Dominiwski Glory (1956) as Vasily The Helen Morgan Story (1957) as Stanislausky - Accordion Player (uncredited)

Television credits

Date Title Role Episode February 3, 1962 Have Gun Will Travel Prince Boris Koslov Radachev "The Hunt" November 1, 1964 My Favorite Martian Prof. Hammershlag "Extra! Extra! Sensory Perception!" September 17, 1965 Hogan's Heroes Sergeant Vladimir Minsk "The Informer" January 4, 1967 Batman (TV Series) Professor Overbeck "The Contaminated Cowl" January 5, 1967 Batman (TV Series) Professor Overbeck "The Mad Hatter Runs Afoul"