Peter van Eyck
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Peter van Eyck | |
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File:Actor Peter van Eyck.jpg Postcard | |
Born | Götz von Eick 16 July 1911 Steinwehr, Pomerania |
Died | 15 July 1969 | (aged 57)
Cause of death | Sepsis |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1943–1969 |
Spouse(s) | Ruth Ford (1940-194?) (divorced) 1 child Inge von Voris (?-1969) (his death) 2 children |
Peter van Eyck was a German-born film actor. He was born Götz von Eick on 16 July 1911 in Steinwehr, Pomerania, German Empire (now Kamienny Jaz, Poland) and died 15 July 1969 in Männedorf near Zürich, Switzerland). He was perhaps best known (in English-language films) for his roles in the 1960s features The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Shalako and The Bridge at Remagen.
Biography
Van Eyck was born into an aristocratic German family from Pomerania (since 1945 part of Poland).[1] After graduating from high school he studied music. In 1931 he left Poland, living in Paris, London, Tunis, Algiers and Cuba, before settling in New York. He earned a living playing the piano in a bar, and wrote and composed for revues and cabarets. He worked for Irving Berlin as a stage manager and production assistant, and for Orson Welles Mercury Theatre company as an assistant director.[2]
Van Eyck went to Hollywood where he worked as a truck driver. He initially found radio work with the help of Billy Wilder, who later gave him small film roles.[3] In 1943 he took US citizenship and was drafted into the army as a commissioned officer. At the end of the war he returned to Germany as a control officer for film and remained there until 1948 as director of the film section.[2] In 1949 he appeared in his first German film Hallo, Fräulein![4]
He gained international recognition with a leading role in the 1953 film Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.[5] He went to appear in episodes of several US TV series including The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[6][7] In English-language films he was most often typecast as a Nazi or other unsympathetic type, while in Germany he was a popular leading man in a wider range of films, including several appearances in the Doctor Mabuse thriller series of the 1960s.[1][8]
Personal life
Van Eyck was married to the American actress Ruth Ford for a short time in the 1940s.[9] With his second wife, Inge von Voris, he had two daughters, Kristina , also an actor, and Claudia.[10]
Death
He died at in 1969 in Männedorf, Switzerland of septicaemia, caused by an untreated relatively minor injury.[citation needed] He was 57.
Partial filmography
- Hitler's Children (1943) — Arresting Sergeant (uncredited)
- The Moon Is Down (1943) — Lieutenant Tonder
- Edge of Darkness (1943) — German Soldier (uncredited)
- Five Graves to Cairo (1943) — Lieutenant Schwegler
- Action in the North Atlantic (1943) — German Ensign (uncredited)
- Hitler's Madman (1943) — Gestapo (uncredited)
- The Impostor (1944) — Hafner
- Address Unknown (1944) — Heinrich Schulz
- Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944) — Capt. Granach - Young Nazi Officer (uncredited)
- Hello, Fraulein! (1949) — Tom Keller
- Royal Children (1950) — Paul König
- Blondes for Export (1950) — Rolf Carste
- The Orplid Mystery (1950) — Steward Stefan Lund
- Furioso (1950) — Peter von Rhoden
- Third from the Right (1950) — Renato
- The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) — German officer (uncredited)
- Au cœur de la Casbah (1952) — Jo
- The Wages of Fear (1953) — Bimba
- Sailor of the King, also known as Single-Handed (1953) — Kapitän Ludvik von Falk
- Alarm in Morocco (1953) — Howard
- La chair et le diable (1953) — Mathias Valdès
- Night People (1954) — Capt. Sergei "Petey" Petrochine
- Flesh and the Woman (1954) — Fred
- Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955) — Dr. Celliers
- A Bullet for Joey (1955) — Eric Hartman
- Sophie et le Crime (1955) — Franck Richter
- Mr. Arkadin (1955) — Thaddeus
- Jump into Hell (1955) — Lt. Heinrich Heldman
- The Rawhide Years (1955) — Andre Boucher
- The Cornet (1955) — Mönchschreiber
- Run for the Sun (1956) — Dr. Van Anders / Colonel Von Andre
- Attack! (1956) — SS Captain
- Burning Fuse (1957) — Pedro Wassewich
- Fric-frac en dentelles (1957) — Peter Simon
- Retour de manivelle (1957) — Eric Fréminger
- The Glass Tower (1957) — John Lawrence
- Tous peuvent me tuer (1957) — Cyril Glad
- Doctor Crippen Lives (1958) — Kriminalkommissar Léon Ferrier
- Rosemary (1958) — Alfons Fribert
- Schmutziger Engel (1958) — Studienrat Dr. Torsten Agast
- The Snorkel (1958) — Paul Decker
- Schwarze Nylons - Heiße Nächte (1958) — Alexandre
- Du gehörst mir (1959) — Alexander
- Rommel Calls Cairo (1959) — Capt. Graf von Almassy
- Lockvogel der Nacht (1959) — Karl Amsel
- The Rest Is Silence (1959) — Generaldirektor Paul Claudius
- Verbrechen nach Schulschluß (1959) — Dr. Knittel
- Labyrinth (1959) — Ron Stevens
- The Black Chapel (1959) — Robert Golder
- Rebel Flight to Cuba (1959) — Captain Pink Roberti
- Sweetheart of the Gods (1960) — Dr. Hans Simon
- The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) — Henry B. Travers
- Foxhole in Cairo (1960) — Cont Almasky
- World in My Pocket (1961) — Bleck
- Legge di guerra (1961) — Hauptmann Langenau
- La Fête espagnole (1961) — Michel Georgenko
- Die Stunde, die du glücklich bist (1961) — Bönisch
- Unter Ausschluß der Öffentlichkeit (1961) — Staatsanwalt Dr. Robert Kessler
- Finden Sie, daß Constanze sich richtig verhält? (1962) — Dr. Fred Calonder
- The Devil's Agent (1962) — Georg Droste
- The Longest Day (1962) — Lt. Col. Ocker
- The Brain (1962) — Dr. Peter Corrie
- Station Six-Sahara (1962) — Kramer
- Ostrava (1963) — Peter
- Scotland Yard vs. Dr. Mabuse (1963) — Major Bill Tern
- Das große Liebesspiel (1963) — Chef
- An Alibi for Death (1963) — Günther Rohn
- The Secret of Dr. Mabuse (1964) — Maj. Bob Anders
- The River Line (1964) — Major Barton
- Kidnapped to Mystery Island (1964) — Captain McPherson
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) — Hans-Dieter Mundt
- The Dirty Game (1965) — Petchatkin
- Die Herren (1965) — Colonel - episode 'Die Soldaten'
- Duel at Sundown (1965) — Don McGow
- Living It Up (1966) — Peter von Kessner
- Requiem for a Secret Agent (1966) — Oscar Rubeck
- High Season for Spies (1966)— Kramer / Jack Haskins
- L'Homme qui valait des milliards (1967) — Muller
- Rose rosse per il führer (1968) — Oberst Kerr
- Tevye and His Seven Daughters (1968) — Priest
- Assignment to Kill (1968) — Walter Green
- Shalako (1968) — Baron Frederick Von Hallstatt
- The Bridge at Remagen (1969) — Generaloberst von Brock (final film role)
References
- ^ a b Davidson, John; Hake, Sabine (2008), Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany, Berghahn Books, p. 47, ISBN 9781845455361
- ^ a b Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim (2009), The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema, Berghahn Books, p. 496, ISBN 9780857455659
- ^ Erickson, Hal. "Peter Van Eyck - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "Peter Van Eyck". British Film Institute.
- ^ "Gestorben Peter Van Eyck" [Obituary Peter Van Eyck]. Der Spiegel. 21 July 1969.
- ^ "CTVA Crime "Ellery Queen, Detective" (TPA)(1954) starring Hugh Marlowe". ctva.biz.
- ^ "Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season 1, Episode 21 Safe Conduct". TVGuide.com.
- ^ "The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) - Fritz Lang - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "Ruth Ford", The Telegraph, 17 August 2009
- ^ "In Biographical Summaries of Notable People, Kristina van Eyck", MyHeritage
External links
- 1911 births
- 1969 deaths
- People from Chojna
- German emigrants to the United States
- German male film actors
- People from the Province of Pomerania
- United States Army Air Forces officers
- First Motion Picture Unit personnel
- American military personnel of World War II
- 20th-century German male actors
- Disease-related deaths in Switzerland