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Leonid Kinskey

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Leonid Kinskey
File:Leonid Kinskey.jpg
as Sascha in Casablanca
Born(1903-04-18)18 April 1903
St. Petersburg, Russia
Died8 September 1998(1998-09-08) (aged 95)
Fountain Hills, Arizona, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1932–1971
Spouse(s)Tina York (1983-1998; his death)
Iphigenie Castiglioni (?-1963; her death)

Leonid Kinskey (18 April 1903 – 8 September 1998) was a Russian-born film and television actor who enjoyed a long career. Kinskey is best known for his role as Sascha in the film Casablanca (1942).[1]

Life and career

Kinskey was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He fled the Russian Revolution and acted on stage in Europe and South America before arriving in New York City in 1921. He joined the road production of Al Jolson's musical Wonder Bar, before making his first film appearance, in Trouble in Paradise (1932).[1] His looks and accent helped him gain supporting roles in several movies, including the Sylvanian "agitator" in the Marx Bros. film Duck Soup (1933). He told Aljean Harmetz, author of Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca, that he was cast in his best-known role, Sascha in Casablanca, because he was a drinking buddy of star Humphrey Bogart.[1] He replaced Leo Mostovoy[2] because the latter was deemed not funny enough.[1]

Kinskey continued to appear on television, well into the 1960s and was in the pilot episode of Hogan's Heroes (1965). He decided not to join the cast when the show went into formal production because he was not comfortable playing opposite people pretending to be Nazis.[3]

Kinskey married three times. His second wife was actress Iphigenie Castiglioni, to whom he remained married until her death in 1963. He was married to Tina York from 1983 to his death. He died of complications of a stroke in Fountain Hills, Arizona, at the age of 95.

Partial filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lawrence Van Gelder (12 September 1998). "Leonid Kinskey, 95, Bartender in 'Casablanca'". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Leo Mostovoy at IMDb
  3. ^ "Hogan's Heroes' unceremonious finale comes from the era before TV "endgames"". Retrieved 2015-05-25.

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