Helmut Dantine
| Helmut Dantine | |
|---|---|
Dantine pictured in 1946
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| Born |
Helmut Guttman 7 October 1918 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 2 May 1982 (aged 63) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | UCLA |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1940–1979 |
| Spouse(s) | Gwen Anderson (?-1943) Charlene S. Wrightsman (1947-1950) one son Nicola "Niki" Dantine (?-1982; his death) three daughters |
Helmut Dantine (7 October 1918 – 2 May 1982) was an Austrian-born 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 refugee in Casablanca who tries gambling to obtain visa money for himself and his wife. As his acting career waned, he turned to producing.
Dantine's father, Alfred Guttman, was the head of the Austrian railway system in Vienna. As a young man, Dantine became involved in an anti-Nazi movement in Vienna. In 1938, when he was 19 years old, the Nazis took over Austria during the Anschluss. Dantine was rounded up with hundreds of other enemies of the Third Reich and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp outside Vienna.
Three months later, using their influence, his parents obtained his release and immediately sent him to California to live with a friend. His father later died in Austria; however, his mother, Ditha Guttman, was safely brought from Austria to California in 1960, with the help of her son. Ditha lived in California until her death in 1983.
Dantine enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, and began his U.S. acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse. He was spotted by a talent scout and signed to a Warner Bros. contract. Dantine spent the early 1940s there, appearing in Casablanca (1942), Edge of Darkness (1943; his first lead role), Northern Pursuit (1943; as the Nazi villain) and Passage to Marseille (1944). Dantine was loaned out to other film companies for two notable films in 1942: To Be or Not to Be and Mrs. Miniver, the latter his first credited role. In 1944, exhibitors voting for "Stars of Tomorrow" picked Dantine at number ten.
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