Stalag 17

William Holden (Actor) .. Sefton

Born: April 17, 1918
Died: November 16, 1981
Birthplace: O'Fallon, Illinois

Trivia: The son of a chemical analyst, American actor William Holden plunged into high school and junior college sports activities as a means of "proving himself" to his demanding father. Nonetheless, Holden's forte would be in what he'd always consider a "sissy" profession: acting. Spotted by a talent scout during a stage production at Pasadena Junior College, Holden was signed by both Paramount and Columbia, who would share his contract for the next two decades. After one bit role, Holden was thrust into the demanding leading part of boxer Joe Bonaparte in Golden Boy (1939). He was so green and nervous that Columbia considered replacing him, but co-star Barbara Stanwyck took it upon herself to coach the young actor and build up his confidence -- a selfless act for which Holden would be grateful until the day he died. After serving as a lieutenant in the Army's special services unit, Holden returned to films, mostly in light, inconsequential roles. Director Billy Wilder changed all that by casting him as Joe Gillis, an embittered failed screenwriter and "kept man" of Gloria Swanson in the Hollywood-bashing classic Sunset Boulevard (1950). Wilder also directed Holden in the role of the cynical, conniving, but ultimately heroic American POW Sefton in Stalag 17 (1953), for which the actor won an Oscar. Holden became a man of the world, as it were, when he moved to Switzerland to avoid heavy taxation on his earnings; while traversing the globe, he developed an interest in African wildlife preservation, spending much of his off-camera time campaigning and raising funds for the humane treatment of animals. Free to be selective in his film roles in the '60s and '70s, Holden evinced an erratic sensibility: For every Counterfeit Traitor (1962) and Network (1976), there would be a walk-through part in The Towering Inferno (1974) or Ashanti (1978). His final film role was in S.O.B. (1981), which, like Sunset Boulevard, was a searing and satirical indictment of Hollywood. But times had changed, and one of the comic highlights of S.O.B. was of a drunken film executive urinating on the floor of an undertaker's parlor. Holden's death in 1981 was the result of blood loss from a fall he suffered while alone.

Peter Graves (Actor) .. Price

Born: March 18, 1926
Died: March 14, 2010
Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Trivia: The younger brother of Gunsmoke star James Arness, American actor Peter Graves worked as a musician and radio actor before entering films with 1950's Rogue River. At first, it appeared that Graves would be the star of the family, since he was cast in leads while brother Jim languished in secondary roles. Then came Stalag 17 (1953), in which Graves was first-rate as a supposedly all-American POW who turned out to be a vicious Nazi spy. Trouble was, Graves played the part too well, and couldn't shake the Nazi stereotype in the eyes of most Hollywood producers. Suddenly the actor found himself in such secondary roles as Shelley Winters' doomed husband in Night of the Hunter (1955) (he was in and out of the picture after the first ten minutes), while sibling James Arness was riding high with Gunsmoke. Dissatisfied with his film career, Graves signed on in 1955 for a network kid's series about "a horse and the boy who loved him." Fury wasn't exactly Citizen Kane, but it ran five years and made Graves a wealthy man through rerun residuals--so much so that he claimed to be making more money from Fury than his brother did from Gunsmoke. In 1966, Peter Graves replaced Steven Hill as head honcho of the force on the weekly TV adventure series Mission: Impossible, a stint that lasted until 1973. Though a better than average actor, Graves gained something of a camp reputation for his stiff, straight-arrow film characters and was often cast in films that parodied his TV image. One of the best of these lampoonish appearances was in the Zucker-Abrahams comedy Airplane (1980), as a nutty airline pilot who asks outrageous questions to a young boy on the plane (a part the actor very nearly turned down, until he discovered that Leslie Nielsen was co-starring in the film). Peter Graves effortlessly maintained his reliable, authoritative movie persona into the '90s and 2000s, and hosted the Biography series on A&E, for which he won an Emmy; he also guest-starred on programs including Cold Case, House and American Dad. Graves died of natural causes in March 2010, at age 83.

Robert Strauss (Actor) .. `Animal' Stosh

Born: November 08, 1913
Died: February 20, 1975

Trivia: Beefy, bulldog-visaged actor Robert Strauss was the son of a theatrical costume designer. Strauss tried his hand at a number of odd jobs before he, too, answered the call of the theater. His best-known Broadway role was the dimwitted, Betty Grable-loving Animal in Stalag 17, a role that he recreated for the 1953 film version, and was Oscar nominated for his efforts. Though he'd been seen onscreen as early as 1942, Strauss' film career didn't really take off until he garnered positive notices for Animal. He spent most of the 1950s at Paramount, working with everyone from William Holden to Jerry Lewis. In 1971, after several distinguished years in the business, Robert Strauss found himself the object of showbiz-column scrutiny when he agreed to co-star in the Danish "soft core" sex farce Dagmar's Hot Pants.

Harvey Lembeck (Actor) .. Harry

Born: April 15, 1923
Died: January 05, 1982

Trivia: Brooklyn-born Harvey Lembeck was a nightclub and Broadway comedian at the time of his 1951 film bow in You're in the Navy Now. The roly-poly, nasal-voiced Lembeck was most often cast as the wise-guy comedy relief in war films, most notably Stalag 17 (1953), in which Lembeck and bearlike Robert Strauss repeated their stage roles as "court jesters" in a dismal POW camp (the two actors would later be reteamed in the 1961 Jack Webb picture The Last Time I Saw Archie, not to mention a series of TV commercials in the mid-1960s). Harvey remained in uniform for a four-year hitch as Corporal Barbella on the popular 1950s Phil Silvers sitcom You'll Never Get Rich. In 1963's Beach Party, Lembeck made the first of several sidesplitting appearances as leather-jacketed Brando wannabe Eric von Zipper, whose attempts to prove his toughness to his fellow bikers always came a-cropper; in Beach Blanket Bingo, for example, he was cut in twain by a buzzsaw, moaning "Why Me?" even as his two halves fell bloodlessly to the floor. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Harvey Lembeck directed several TV sitcom episodes, and also operated a training school for aspiring comedians; carrying on the "family business" after Harvey's death was his son, actor/director Michael Lembeck.

Don Taylor (Actor) .. Lt. Dunbar

Born: December 13, 1920

Trivia: A Pennsylvania-born actor/director, Don Taylor appeared in such movies as Father of the Bride and Stalag 17 before switching to directing in 1961 with the juvenile comedy Everything's Ducky. His second film, Ride the Wild Surf (1964), was an above average teen exploitation movie that was very successful. But Taylor hit his stride as a serious filmmaker in 1968 with a jewel of a television feature called Something for a Lonely Man, a drama starring Dan Blocker and Susan Clark that became a favorite among critics. His next movie, Five Man Army (1970), was a popular spaghetti western, and his Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) secured good reviews and assured the series' survival beyond its third installment. Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) was a solid, handsomely produced version of the H.G. Wells story, and a hit, as was Taylor's Damien: Omen II (1979). Final Countdown (1980) proved a success as well, perhaps the last non-slasher/non-fantasy related science-fiction adventure to reach audiences with low-tech special effects. Taylor's subsequent work was confined to TV movies, where he was busy throughout the '80s.

Otto Preminger (Actor) .. Oberst Von Scherbach

Born: December 05, 1905
Died: April 23, 1986
Birthplace: Wiznitz, Austria-Hungary

Trivia: Originally a law student, Otto Preminger got his first acting experience with Max Reinhardt's theater company while studying for his degree. He entered the theater as a producer and director, came to America as a director in 1935, and was hired by 20th Century Fox. After leaving the studio for Broadway at the end of the '30s, he returned in the early '40s, specializing in Nazi roles despite his Jewish faith. Preminger got back into the director's chair with Margin for Error, an adaptation of a play that he had directed on Broadway. Laura, based upon the hit novel and play by Vera Caspary, was to have been made by Rouben Mamoulian; but he was fired soon after production began, and Preminger took over finished the film, which went on to become a huge hit. The director's most important subsequent movie at Fox was Forever Amber, which failed at the box office but enhanced his reputation nonetheless.In the early '50s, Preminger became an independent producer/director, and immediately began making a name for himself through a series of successful challenges to the restrictive production code, which forbade the use of various controversial subjects onscreen. His sophisticated comedy The Moon Is Blue broke through the barrier with regard to sexual subject matter with its relatively frank treatment of such topics as virginity and pregnancy, while The Man With the Golden Arm was the first major Hollywood film to deal with drug addiction. Preminger's Carmen Jones proved to be a critically successful venture into musicals, which led directly to being chosen by Samuel Goldwyn to direct the screen adaptation of George and Ira Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Preminger's box-office record was rather scattershot during this era and included the notorious disaster Saint Joan and the hit Anatomy of a Murder. His early-'60s movies grew in size and pretentiousness, and included such epic-length releases as Advise and Consent, The Cardinal, and In Harm's Way, but, by the middle of the decade, he had receded in ambition and success with Bunny Lake Is Missing, Skidoo, and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. The '70s saw the release of the failed thrillers Rosebud and The Human Factor. He died in 1986, several years after the onset of Alzheimer's disease brought an end to his career. Always a flamboyant personality, Preminger was one of the more visible and better known director/producers of his era, and also became known to an entire generation of children with his portrayal of the villainous Mr. Freeze on the Batman television series.

Richard Erdman (Actor) .. Hoffy

Born: March 16, 2019
Died: March 16, 2019
Birthplace: Enid, Oklahoma, United States

Trivia: The son of an itinerant piano tuner-father and a restaurateur-mother, Richard Erdman was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Colorado. Having taken drama lessons since his early childhood, Erdman was 15 when he was brought to Hollywood by his mother to be "discovered." It wasn't until he'd held down an interim job as a sports reporter for the Los Angeles Examiner that Erdman finally appeared in his first film, Warner Bros.' Janie (1944). Rapidly outgrowing juvenile roles, Erdman played character parts in Hollywood films like Stalag 17 (1953) and in such European productions as Four Days Leave (1950) and Face of Fire (1959). In 1961, Erdman co-starred on the short-lived sitcom The Tab Hunter Show, playing Tab's millionaire-playboy buddy, Peter Fairchild III. In 1973, Erdman made his big-screen directorial debut with The Brothers O'Toole. Since that time, Richard Erdman has kept busy as a voice-over actor, offering a wide range of vocal characterizations for dozens of TV cartoon series, as well as the 1994 animated feature film The Pagemaster.

Neville Brand (Actor) .. Duke

Born: August 13, 1920
Died: April 16, 1992

Trivia: The oldest child of an itinerant bridge builder, actor Neville Brand intended to make the military his career, and indeed spent ten years in uniform. During World War II, he became America's fourth most decorated soldier when he wiped out a German 50-caliber machine gun nest. He also decided that he'd seek out another line of work as soon as his hitch was up. Paying for acting classes with his GI Bill, he started his career off-Broadway. In 1949, he made his film debut in D.O.A., playing a psychotic hoodlum who delights in punching poisoned hero Edmond O'Brien in the stomach. Brand spent most of the early '50s at 20th Century Fox, a studio that surprisingly downplayed the actor's war record by shuttling him from one unstressed supporting role to another (though he's the principal villain in 1950's Where the Sidewalk Ends, he receives no screen credit). He fared far better on television, where he won the Sylvania Award for his portrayal of Huey Long in a 1958 telestaging of All the King's Men. Even better received was his portrayal of Al Capone on the TV series The Untouchables, a characterization he repeated in the 1961 theatrical feature The George Raft Story. In 1966, Brand briefly shed his bad-guy image to play the broadly hilarious role of bumbling Texas Ranger Reese Bennett on the TV Western series Laredo. His off-camera reputation for pugnacity and elbow-bending was tempered by his unswerving loyalty to his friends and his insatiable desire to better himself intellectually (his private library was one of the largest in Hollywood, boasting some 5000 titles). Fighting a losing battle against emphysema during his last years, Neville Brand died at the age of 70.

Michael Moore (Actor) .. Manfredi

Born: May 28, 1925

Peter Baldwin (Actor) .. Johnson

Born: January 11, 1931

Trivia: American actor Peter Baldwin was signed by Paramount Studios in the early 1950s as one of Paramount's "Golden Circle of Newcomers." As such, Baldwin was assured a steady paycheck with such Paramount productions as The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953), Stalag 17 (1953) (in which, as an escaping POW, he was killed off in the first reel), Houdini (1953) and Little Boy Lost (1958). No longer a newcomer, but not yet a star, Baldwin remained at his home studio until 1959, appearing fleetingly in The Tin Star (1957), Teacher's Pet (1958) and other films. Understandably dissatisfied with his dead-end performing career, Baldwin became a prolific TV director (Love American Style, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Carter Country), ultimately winning a 1988 Emmy for his work on The Wonder Years. As a screenwriter, Peter Baldwin was one of four scriveners credited on the Marcello Mastroianni-Faye Dunaway starrer A Place for Lovers (1969).

Robinson Stone (Actor) .. Joey

Born: April 25, 1919
Died: May 11, 2000

Robert Shawley (Actor) .. Blondie

Born: January 01, 1926
Died: January 01, 1990

William Pierson (Actor) .. Marko

Born: January 01, 1926
Died: August 27, 2004

Gil Stratton (Actor) .. Cookie/Narrator

Born: June 02, 1922
Died: October 11, 2008

Trivia: Originally billed as Gil Stratton Jr., this slight, apple-cheeked "juvenile" performer was barely out of his teens when he created the role of Bud Hooper in the 1941 Broadway musical Best Foot Forward. Stratton continued toting up stage and radio credits in New York until his 1943 film debut in Girl Crazy. His subsequent screen roles included Cookie, the stuttering narrator of Stalag 17 (1953), and pint-sized cyclist Mousie in The Wild One (1953). On television, he played the anemic collegiate Junior Jackson in the 1954 sitcom That's My Boy. That same year, he launched what would turn out to be a 20-year run as a top sportscaster at L.A.'s CBS TV affiliate KNXT. In his last few films, notably Mae West's Sextette (1977), he was cast as "himself." Gil Stratton retired to Hawaii in 1984, where for many years, he owned and maintained a radio station. He died of congestive heart failure in 2008.

Jay Lawrence (Actor) .. Bagradian

Born: January 01, 1923
Died: January 01, 1987

Erwin Kalser (Actor) .. Geneva Man

Born: January 01, 1892
Died: January 01, 1958

Edmund Trczinski (Actor) .. Triz

Harald Maresch (Actor) .. German Lieutenant

Carl Forcht (Actor) .. German Lieutenant

Alexander J. Wells (Actor) .. Prisoners with Beard

Bob Templeton (Actor) .. Prisoners with Beard

Paul Salata (Actor) .. Prisoners with Beard

Born: October 17, 1926

Jerry Singer (Actor) .. The Crutch

Bill Sheehan (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Richard P. Beedle (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Warren Sortomme (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Robin Morse (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Born: January 01, 1914
Died: January 01, 1958

Ralph Jarvis Caston (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

James R. Scott (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Harry Reardon (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Wesley Ling (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

John Mitchum (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Born: January 01, 1919
Died: November 29, 2001

Trivia: The younger brother of film star Robert Mitchum, American actor John Mitchum shared his family's Depression-era travails before striking out on his own. As brother Robert's star ascended in the mid '40s, John remained his elder sibling's boon companion, severest critic and drinking buddy. In later years, John was a convivial anecdotal source for books and articles about Bob, each reminiscense becoming more colorful as it was repeated for the next interview. After holding down a variety of jobs, John decided to give acting a try as a result of hearing Bob's tales of Hollywood revelry; too heavyset to be a leading man, John became a reliable character actor, usually in military or western roles. He frequently had small parts in his brother's starring films, notably One Minute to Zero (1951) and The Way West (1967). Most of John's movie work was done outside Robert's orbit, however, in such films as Cattle King (1963) and Paint Your Wagon (1970). Perhaps John Mitchum's best screen role was as Goering in the 1962 biopic Hitler; he may have been utterly opposed ideologically to the late German field marshal, but John certainly filled the costume.

William McLean (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Born: February 28, 1918

Tommy Cook (Actor) .. Prisoners of War

Born: July 05, 1930

Trivia: Based in Los Angeles from an early age, Tommy Cook was a busy child actor on radio during the 1940s, playing such roles as Little Beaver on the Western series Red Ryder. In films since 1942's The Tuttles of Tahiti, Cook was briefly placed under contract by Columbia. In his late teen years, he signed with 20th Century Fox, playing substantial roles in films like An American Guerilla in the Philippines (1950) and Panic in the Streets (1950). Drifting out of acting in the mid-'50s, Tommy Cook went on to become a professional tennis player and traveling-show entrepreneur.

Janice Carroll (Actor) .. Russian Women Prisoner

Born: February 19, 1932

Yvette Eaton (Actor) .. Russian Women Prisoner

Alla Gursky (Actor) .. Russian Women Prisoner

Olga Lebedeff (Actor) .. Russian Women Prisoner

Mara Sondakoff (Actor) .. Russian Women Prisoner

Ross Gould (Actor) .. German Orderly

Mike Bush (Actor) .. Dancer

Joe Ploski (Actor) .. German Guard Volley

Max Willenz (Actor) .. German Lieutenant Supervisor

Born: September 22, 1888
Died: November 08, 1954

Trivia: A bald, jovial-looking character actor from Austria, Max Willenz was very busy in Hollywood films during World War II but was, oddly enough, usually cast as a Frenchman (the barkeeper Louis in Dr. Renault's Secret, 1942; the captain in Mademoiselle Fifi, 1944 ) or Russian characters (Dr. Grutschakoff in The Heavenly Body, 1943; Mr. Slepoff in A Likely Story, 1947). In fact, Willenz once again played a Frenchman, a court clerk, in his final film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

Peter Leeds (Actor) .. Barracks No. 1 POW

Born: May 30, 1917
Died: November 12, 1996

Trivia: Peter Leeds played straight man to some of the most popular comedians of the mid- to late 20th century, including Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Carole Burnett, and Johnny Carson. Leeds was also a fine dramatic actor. He spent most of his 40-plus-year career on television, appearing an astonishing 8,000 times on situation comedies and variety shows. Leeds has appeared on Broadway, in feature films, and on over 3,000 radio shows and was a popular voice-over artist. A native of Bayonne, NJ, Leeds received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his film debut with a bit part in Public Enemies (1941). Leeds hooked up with Bob Hope in 1954 for a television special and continued working with Hope on specials and 14 U.S.O. tours through 1991. During the '70s, Leeds spent five years as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of AFTRA and later served on the actors' union's national and local Board of Directors. In 1992, AFTRA repaid his many years of service with its highest honor, the Gold Card. Leeds later served on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Leeds died of cancer on November 12, 1996, at age 79.

Herbert Street (Actor)

Rodric Beckham (Actor)

Jerry Gerber (Actor)

William Mulcahy (Actor)

Russell Grower (Actor)

Donald Cameron (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1925
Died: January 01, 1987

James Dabney Jr. (Actor)

Ralph Gaston (Actor)

Svetlana McLee (Actor)

Lyda Vashkulat (Actor)

Audrey Strauss (Actor)

Ross Bagdasarian (Actor)

Born: January 27, 1919
Died: January 16, 1972

John Veitch (Actor)

Born: June 22, 1920

Sig Ruman (Actor) .. Schulz

Born: October 11, 1884
Died: February 14, 1967

Trivia: Born in Germany, actor Sig Rumann studied electro-technology in college before returning to his native Hamburg to study acting. He worked his way up from bits to full leads in such theatrical centers as Stettin and Kiel before serving in World War I. Rumann came to New York in 1924 to appear in German-language plays. He was discovered simultaneously by comedian George Jessel, playwright George S. Kaufman, and critic Alexander Woollcott. He began chalking up an impressive list of stage roles, notably Baron Preysig in the 1930 Broadway production of Grand Hotel (in the role played by Wallace Beery in the 1932 film version). Rumann launched his film career at the advent of talkies, hitting his stride in the mid 1930s. During his years in Hollywood, he whittled down his stage name from Siegfried Rumann to plain Sig Ruman. The personification of Prussian pomposity, Rumann was a memorable foil for the Marx Brothers in A Night at the Opera (1935), A Day at the Races (1937), and A Night in Casablanca (1946). He also was a favorite of director Ernst Lubitsch, appearing in Ninotchka (1939) as a bombastic Soviet emissary and in To Be or Not to Be (1942) as the unforgettable "Concentration Camp Ehrardt." With the coming of World War II, Ruman found himself much in demand as thick-headed, sometimes sadistic Nazis. Oddly, in The Hitler Gang (1944), Rumann was cast in a comparatively sympathetic role, as the ailing and senile Von Hindenburg. After the war, Rumann was "adopted" by Lubitsch admirer Billy Wilder, who cast the actor in such roles as the deceptively good-natured Sgt. Schultz in Stalag 17 (1953) and a marinet doctor in The Fortune Cookie (1966); Wilder also used Rumann's voice to dub over the guttural intonations of German actor Hubert von Meyerinck in One, Two, Three (1961). In delicate health during his last two decades, Rumann occasionally accepted unbilled roles, such as the kindly pawnbroker in O. Henry's Full House (1952). During one of his heartier periods, he had a recurring part on the 1952 TV sitcom Life with Luigi. Rumann's last film appearance was as a shoe-pounding Russian UN delegate in Jerry Lewis' Way... Way Out (1967).

Billy Holden (Actor) .. JJ Sefton

John Patrick Veitch (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1920
Died: December 08, 1998

Trivia: As president of worldwide production for Columbia Pictures, John Veitch oversaw the production of over 300 films. He also served with the executive branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for three decades. Veitch's entry into show business came from a suggestion from Alan Ladd that he try movie acting, a suggestion seconded by his wife, Sue, who met him during WWII when Veitch was hospitalized with a leg wound. After the war, Veitch went to Hollywood and landed bit parts in Stalag 13 and From Here to Eternity. Veitch turned to a behind-the-scenes career when he was named an executive assistant production manager for Columbia in 1961. Veitch survived various management upheavals at Columbia and by 1968 had been promoted to senior vice president. Veitch served in at least a dozen different management positions while at the studio. He also set up John Veitch Productions at Columbia in 1987, and produced a number of major pictures including Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and Fly Away Home (1996). In 1987, he accepted an appointment as co-chairman for LG Pictures, a division of Lions Gate Entertainment.

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Saturday, November 15 on WTBY Positiv (54.4)