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Anton Diffring

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Anton Diffring
File:Anton Diffring.gif
Diffring in The Beast Must Die (1974)
Born
Alfred Pollack

(1916-10-20)20 October 1916
Koblenz, Germany
Died19 May 1989(1989-05-19) (aged 72)
Châteauneuf-Grasse, France
Other namesAnton de Vient
OccupationActor
Years active1940–1988
RelativesJacqueline Diffring (sister)

Anton Diffring (born Alfred Pollack, 20 October 1916 – 19 May 1989)[1] was a German-born character actor who had an extensive career in the United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 1980s, latterly appearing in international films. He appeared in over 50 features and was typically cast as a Nazi officer.[2]

Early life

Diffring was born Alfred Pollack in Koblenz. His father, Solomon Pollack, was a Jewish shop-owner who managed to avoid internment and survived Nazi rule in Germany. His mother, Bertha Pollack (née Diffring), was Christian. He studied acting in Berlin and Vienna, but there is conjecture about when he left Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II. The audio commentary for the Doctor Who series Silver Nemesis mentions that he left in 1936 to escape persecution due to his homosexuality. Other accounts point to him leaving in 1939 and settling in Canada, where he was interned in 1940, which is unlikely as he appears in the Ealing Studios film Convoy (released in July 1940, as the officer of U-37, in an uncredited role). His sister Jacqueline Diffring moved to England and became a sculptor.

While in England, he quickly became fluent in English and for a time worked in the War Office as an interpreter. Although he made two fleeting uncredited appearances in films in 1940, it was not until 1950 that his acting career began to take off.

Career

Anton Diffring as Baron Frankenstein in Tales of Frankenstein (1958)

With numerous World War II film and television productions being produced in England from the 1950s, Diffring's "Germanic" physical type of blond hair, pale blue eyes and chiselled features saw him regularly cast in roles as Nazi military officers in films such as Albert R.N. (1953) and The Colditz Story (1955).[3] Some of his other roles as German characters were in The Heroes of Telemark (1965), The Blue Max (1966), Where Eagles Dare (1968), Zeppelin (1971), as SS officer Reinhard Heydrich in Operation Daybreak (1975) and the football match commentator in Escape to Victory (1981), although he also played a Polish parachutist in The Red Beret (1953).[4] He played Hitler's foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in the American mini-series The Winds of War (1983).[5] In the Italian war movie Uccidete Rommel, shot in the Egyptian desert in 1969, he played the role of a British officer of the SAS.[6]

On stage, Diffring played the title role in the musical Mister Venus, opposite Frankie Howerd.[7] It opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 23 October 1958 but closed after only sixteen performances. In the show, Diffring sang two solo numbers: "Love Like Ours" and "Tradition".[8] The book was by Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, while the music was by Trevor H. Stanford (Russ Conway) and Norman Newell.[9]

He played a part in the TV mini-series Flambards as the aeronautical pioneer who assists William Russell (Alan Parnaby), second in line of inheritance to the Flambards Estate, who is obsessed with flying. Diffring's character was a German living in Britain shortly before the beginning of the Great War.[10]

Diffring starred in several horror films, such as The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) and Circus of Horrors (1960) and played the lead in the television pilot Tales of Frankenstein (1958).[4] He also appeared in international films, such as Fahrenheit 451 (1966), an English-language film directed by François Truffaut.[11] He appeared in the 1964 West German comedy A Mission for Mr. Dodd having previously starred in the West End play Out of Bounds on which it is based.

His final performance was once more as a Nazi for the BBC in the 1988 Doctor Who serial Silver Nemesis.[12][13]

Death

Diffring died on 19 May 1989 from cancer at his home in Châteauneuf-Grasse, in the South of France, at the age of 72. In a 2002 interview, his longtime friend Arthur Brauss said Diffring had actually died of complications from AIDS.[14] His body was buried in the graveyard of St. Andrew's Church, in the village of White Colne in Essex.[15]

Filmography

Selected television appearances

Sources

  • Brian McFarlane, The Encyclopedia of British Film, Methuen, 2003.

References

  1. ^ As listed on his gravestone
  2. ^ Folkart, Burt A. (22 July 1989). "Anton Diffring; German-Born Character Actor". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Anton Diffring | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
  4. ^ a b "Anton Diffring". BFI.
  5. ^ "The Winds of War : Cataclysm (1983) – Dan Curtis | Cast and Crew | AllMovie" – via www.allmovie.com.
  6. ^ "Kill Rommel (1969) – Alfonso Brescia | Cast and Crew | AllMovie" – via www.allmovie.com.
  7. ^ "Production of Mister Venus | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  8. ^ Theatre programme: Mister Venus, Prince of Wales Theatre
  9. ^ Gänzl, Kurt, 1946– (1986). The British musical theatre. Basingstoke: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-39839-4. OCLC 59021270.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Flambards Episode 5 The Cold Light of Day (1979)". BFI.
  11. ^ "Fahrenheit 451 (1966)". BFI.
  12. ^ Zaltzman, Lior (24 October 2019). "There's a long history of Jews playing Nazis on screen". The Jerusalem Post. JTA. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  13. ^ "BBC – Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide – Silver Nemesis – Details". BBC. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007.
  14. ^ "Interview mit Arthur Brauss vom 27.01.2002". Terrorverlag (in German). 27 January 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2022. [Q:] Anton Diffring? [A:] Starb an Aids. [Died of AIDS]
  15. ^ Entry for the grave of Diffring in 'Findagrave' website (2019).
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