- Helmut Dantine
Infobox actor
name = Helmut Dantine
caption =
birthdate =October 7 ,1917
birthplace =Vienna ,Austria-Hungary
deathdate =May 2 ,1982
deathplace =Beverly Hills ,Los Angeles, California ,USA Helmut Dantine (
October 7 ,1917 –May 2 ,1982 ) was a film actor remembered for playing many Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s.The
Vienna -born actor appeared uncredited in "Casablanca" early in his career (he played the desperate newlywed gambling to obtain visa money). The dark and handsome supporting player and occasional lead fledAustria in the late 1930s, and ended up in the U.S. state of California.He began his U.S. acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he was spotted by a talent scout and signed to a
Warner Bros. contract. Dantine spent the early 1940s there; appearing in "International Squadron" (1941) withRonald Reagan , "Casablanca" (1942), "Edge of Darkness " (his first lead role), "Mission to Moscow", "Northern Pursuit" (all 1943), "Passage to Marseille", "The Mask of Dimitrios " (both 1944), "Hotel Berlin" and "Escape in the Desert" (both 1945).Dantine was also loaned out to other film companies for two notable films in 1942. "To Be or Not to Be" and "Mrs. Miniver" were both released in 1942. His last screen appearances were in three films he executive produced including, "
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia " (1974), and "The Killer Elite " (1975), both directed bySam Peckinpah .From 1947 to 1950, he was married to Charlene Stafford Wrightsman (1927-1963), the younger daughter of
Charles B. Wrightsman , an oil millionaire whose collection of French furniture and decorative arts fills several galleries at theMetropolitan Museum of Art . They had one son, Dana Wrightsman Dantine, and in 1952, Charlene Dantine married the American society columnistIgor Cassini .External links
*imdb name|0200626
* [http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5508&pt=%3Cb%3EHelmut%3C/b%3E%20Dantine Find-A-Grave profile for Helmut Dantine]
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