Curd Jürgens
| Curd Jürgens | |
|---|---|
Curd Jürgens 1971
|
|
| Born |
Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens 13 December 1915 Solln, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire |
| Died | 18 June 1982 (aged 66) Vienna, Austria |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1935–1982 |
| Spouse(s) | Lulu Basler (1938–1947) Judith Holzmeister (1947–1955) Eva Bartok (1955–1956) (1 child) Simone Bicheron (1958–1977) Margie Schmitz (1978–1982) |
| Children | No children |
| Awards |
Volpi Cup for Best Actor 1955 Les héros sont fatigués |
Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 1915 – 18 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.
Jürgens was born on 13 December 1915 in the Munich borough of Solln, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire. His father, Kurt, was a trader from Hamburg, and his mother, Marie-Albertine, was a French teacher. He began his working career as a journalist before becoming an actor at the urging of his actress wife, Louise Basler. He spent much of his early acting career on the stage in Vienna.
Jürgens was critical of National Socialism in his native Germany. In 1944, he was sent to an internment camp in Hungary as a "political unreliable".
Jürgens became an Austrian citizen after the war.
Like many multilingual German-speaking actors, Jürgens went on to play soldiers in many war films. Notable performances in this vein include his breakthrough screen role in Des Teufels General (1955, The Devil's General), a fictional portrayal of World War I flying ace and World War II Luftwaffe general Ernst Udet, followed by Roger Vadim's film Et Dieu... créa la femme (And God Created Woman) starring Brigitte Bardot.
Jürgens first Hollywood film was The Enemy Below (1957), in which he portrayed a German U-boat commander. In 1962 he played the German general Günther Blumentritt in The Longest Day. Later, in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), he played the villain Karl Stromberg, a sociopathic industrialist seeking to transform the world into an ocean paradise. His last film appearance was as Maître Legraine, beside Alain Delon and Claude Jade in the spy-thriller Teheran 43 (1981). In English-language television he played Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in several episodes of the BBC series Fall of Eagles (1974) and appeared as General Vladimir in the BBC's Smiley's People (1982).
...
Wikipedia