Karl Stepanek
Actor
Born October 27, 1899 in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
Though born in Czechoslovakia, actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany (as Karl Stepanek) in the years before World War II. Stepanek fled to England in 1940, where, like many European refugee actors, he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains. He tried to stay away from out-and-out Nazi roles, but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepanek's screen characters. One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart; Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol (1949). Commuting between London and Hollywood, Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II, usually on the wrong side, into such '60s films as Sink the Bismarck! (1960), I Aim at the Stars (1960) and Operation Crossbow (1965).
Filmography
The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
The Games
Kubitsek
The File of the Golden Goose
Mueller
Before Winter Comes
Count Kerassy
Murderers Club of Brooklyn
Dyers
The Frozen Dead
General Lubeck
Sperrbezirk
Inspector Wagner
The Heroes of Telemark
Hartmuller
Licensed to Kill
Henrik Jacobsen
Operation Crossbow
Prof. Hoffer
Devil Doll
Dr. Heller
Das Kriminalmuseum
Dr. Robert Großmann
Brainwashed
Baranow
Sink the Bismarck!
Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'
Our Man in Havana
Dr. Braun
No Hiding Place
Professor Remi
Operation Amsterdam
Diamond Merchant
West of Suez
Langford
The Traitor
Friederich Suderman
Anastasia
Mikhail Vlados
Armchair Theatre
The Man in the Road
Dmitri Balinkev
Man of the Moment
Lom
The Cockleshell Heroes
Assistant Gestapo Officer
Secret Venture
Zelinsky
A Prize of Gold
Dr. Zachmann
Dangerous Cargo
Pliny
Tale of Three Women
Alfred Dykemann (segment "Final Twist' story)
City Beneath the Sea
Dwight Trevor
Rough Shoot
Diss
Never Let Me Go
Commissar
Affair in Trinidad
Walters
Walk East on Beacon
Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders
No Highway in the Sky
The Third Visitor
Richard Carling
State Secret
Dr. Revo
Cairo Road
Edouardo Pavlis
Golden Arrow
Schroeder
Give Us This Day
Jaroslav
The Third Man
Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
Conspirator
Radek
The Fallen Idol
First Secretary
Counterblast
Professor Inman
Broken Journey
Swiss Officer (uncredited)
The Captive Heart
Forster
Escape to Danger
Franz von Brinkman
They Met in the Dark
Riccardo
Tomorrow We Live
Seitz
Secret Mission
Major Lang
Our Film
Soviet Visitor
Alles Schwindel
Clubdiener
Three Fathers for Anna
Matschek
The Leghorn Hat
Felix, Diener bei Farina
Hotel Sacher
Franz
Another Experience
Rechtsanwalt
War es der im 3. Stock?
Georg Kilby
Narren im Schnee
Rolf Pinkenkötter
The Bat
Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
The Unknown
Manager at Regina's
Stronger Than Paragraphs
Robert Wendland
Der Außenseiter
Otto Burian
The Grey Pikes Wharf
Ladewig
Pozdní láska
Na růžích ustláno
Waltz War
Kellner Leopold
A Song for You
Theo Bruckner
Spione im Savoy-Hotel
Jackson
Five from the Jazzband
Jean
Here's Berlin
Max
Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf