Peter van Eyck
Encyclopedia
Peter van Eyck, born Götz von Eick (16 July 1911, Steinwehr
, Pomerania
, Germany
(now Kamienny Jaz, Poland
) – 15 July 1969, Männedorf
near Zürich
, Switzerland
), was a German-American actor.
. He earned a living playing the piano in a bar, and wrote and composed for revues and cabarets. He then worked for Irving Berlin
as a stage manager and production assistant, and for Orson Welles
Mercury Theatre
company as an assistant director.
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. 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. In 1949 he appeared in his first German film Hallo, Fräulein!
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
. He went to appear in episodes of several US TV series including The Adventures of Ellery Queen
and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
. 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.
for a short time in the 1940s. With his second wife, Inge von Voris, he had two daughters, Kristina, also an actor, and Claudia.
He died of sepsis
in 1969, aged 57.
Kamienny Jaz
Kamienny Jaz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chojna, within Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies approximately east of Chojna, south of Gryfino, and south of the regional capital Szczecin.Before 1945 the...
, Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(now Kamienny Jaz, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) – 15 July 1969, Männedorf
Männedorf
Männedorf is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.-History:Like in all other village along the lake of Zürich, archeological findings indicate settlements in the stone ages. The original settlement in the 7th or 8th century was called village of Manno...
near Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
), was a German-American actor.
Biography
After graduating from high school he studied music. In 1931 he left Germany, living in Paris, London, Tunis, Algiers and Cuba, before settling in New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He earned a living playing the piano in a bar, and wrote and composed for revues and cabarets. He then worked for Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
as a stage manager and production assistant, and for Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
Mercury Theatre
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
company as an assistant director.
Van Eyck went to Hollywood where he worked as a truck driver. He initially found radio work with the help of Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
, who later gave him small film roles. 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. In 1949 he appeared in his first German film Hallo, Fräulein!
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
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s...
. He went to appear in episodes of several US TV series including The Adventures of Ellery Queen
The Adventures of Ellery Queen
The Adventures of Ellery Queen is the title of a radio series and four separate television series made from the 1950s through the 1970s. They were based on the fictional character and pseudonymous writer Ellery Queen.-Radio:...
and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
. 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
Doctor Mabuse
Doctor Mabuse is a fictional character created by Norbert Jacques in the novel Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, and made famous by the three movies director Fritz Lang made about the character; see Dr. Mabuse the Gambler. Although the character was designed deliberately to mimic pulp magazine-style...
thriller series of the 1960s.
Personal life
Van Eyck was married to the American actress Ruth FordRuth Ford (actress)
Ruth Ford was an American model and stage and film actress. Her brother was the bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford. Their parents managed the Tennessee Hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee.-Life and career:As a model she posed for Harper's, Town and Country and Mademoiselle...
for a short time in the 1940s. With his second wife, Inge von Voris, he had two daughters, Kristina, also an actor, and Claudia.
He died of sepsis
Sepsis
Sepsis is a potentially deadly medical condition that is characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state and the presence of a known or suspected infection. The body may develop this inflammatory response by the immune system to microbes in the blood, urine, lungs, skin, or other tissues...
in 1969, aged 57.
Selected filmography
- The Bridge at RemagenThe Bridge at RemagenThe Bridge at Remagen is a 1969 war film starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by John Guillermin and was shot on location in Czechoslovakia....
(1969) — Generaloberst von Brock - ShalakoShalako (film)Shalako is a 1968 British western film directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot. Stephen Boyd portrayed a classic western villain. Jack Hawkins played an upper class Englishman abroad in the "new" country...
(1968) — Baron Frederick Von Hallstatt - Tevye and His Seven DaughtersTevye and His Seven DaughtersTevye and His Seven Daughters is a 1968 Israeli drama film directed by Menahem Golan. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.-Cast:* Shmuel Rodensky - Tevye...
(1968) — Priest - The Spy Who Came in from the ColdThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold (film)The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a 1965 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by John le Carré. It was adapted by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper. The film stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, along with Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Peter van Eyck, Sam Wanamaker, Rupert Davies and Cyril Cusack...
(1965) — Hans-Dieter Mundt - The Dirty GameThe Dirty GameThe Dirty Game is a 1965 portmanteau spy film starring Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan.The original film had Robert Ryan linking four different spy stories, each helmed by a different director; original James Bond director Terence Young for the English sequences, Christian-Jaque for the French, Carlo...
(1965) — Petchatkin - Scotland Yard vs. Dr. MabuseScotland Yard vs. Dr. MabuseScotland Yard vs. Dr Mabuse is a 1963 German crime film directed by Paul May and starring Peter van Eyck.-Cast:* Peter van Eyck - Major Bill Tern* Sabine Bethmann - Nancy Masterson* Dieter Borsche - George Cockstone* Werner Peters - Inspektor Vulpius...
(1963) — Major Bill Tern - The Longest DayThe Longest Day (film)The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
(1962) — Lieutenant-Colonel Ocker - Foxhole in CairoFoxhole in CairoFoxhole in Cairo is a 1960 British war film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and based on a novel by Leonard Mosley itself based upon the real-life Operation Salaam. It starred James Robertson Justice, Adrian Hoven, Fenella Fielding and Henry Oscar...
(1960) — Cont Almaszy - The Rest Is SilenceThe Rest Is Silence (film)The Rest Is Silence is a 1959 German crime film directed by Helmut Käutner. It was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Hardy Krüger - John H. Claudius* Peter van Eyck - Paul Claudius* Ingrid Andree - Fee von Pohl...
(1959) - Retour de manivelleRetour de manivelleRetour de manivelle is a 1957 French-language motion picture crime drama directed by Denys de La Patellière who co-wrote screenplay with Michel Audiard, based on novel by James Hadley Chase...
(1957) — Eric Fréminger - Attack!Attack (1956 film)Attack, also known as Attack!, is a 1956 American war film. It was directed by Robert Aldrich and starred Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, William Smithers, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Buddy Ebsen and Peter van Eyck...
(1956) — SS Captain - Mr. ArkadinMr. ArkadinMr. Arkadin is a French-Spanish-Swiss coproduction film, written and directed by Orson Welles and shot in several Spanish locations, including Segovia, Valladolid and Madrid.Its history is convoluted...
(1955) — Thaddeus - Night PeopleNight PeopleNight People or The Night People may refer to:* Night owl , a person who naturally stays up late at night* Night People , a 1954 drama starring Gregory Peck* Night People , a film featuring Katrina Bryan...
(1954) — Capt. Sergei "Petey" Petrochine - Flesh and the WomanFlesh and the WomanFlesh and the Woman is a 1954 French drama film directed by Robert Siodmak. It was entered into the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Gina Lollobrigida - Sylvia Sorrego / Helena Ricci* Jean-Claude Pascal - Pierre Martel* Arletty - Blanche...
(1954) — Fred - Sailor of the KingSailor of the KingSailor of the King is a 1953 war film based on the novel Brown on Resolution by C. S. Forester and filmed in the Mediterranean Sea...
, also known as Single-Handed (1953) — Kapitan Ludvik von Falk - The Wages of Fear (1953) — Bimba
- The Desert Fox: The Story of RommelThe Desert Fox: The Story of RommelThe Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel is a 1951 biographical film about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the later stages of World War II. It stars James Mason in the title role, was directed by Henry Hathaway, and was based on the book Rommel by Brigadier Desmond Young, who served in the Indian Army in...
(1951) — German officer - Address UnknownAddress Unknown (1944 film)Address Unknown is a drama film directed by William Cameron Menzies based on Kathrine Taylor's novel Address Unknown . The film tells the story of two families caught up in the rise of Nazism in Germany prior to the start of World War II....
(1944) — Heinrich Schulz - Action in the North AtlanticAction in the North AtlanticAction in the North Atlantic is a 1943 war film directed by Lloyd Bacon, featuring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as sailors in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II.-Plot:...
(1943) — German Ensign - Five Graves to CairoFive Graves to CairoFive Graves to Cairo is a 1943 World War II film by Billy Wilder, starring Franchot Tone and Anne Baxter. It is one of a number of films based on Lajos Biró's play Színmü négy felvonásban, including Hotel Imperial .-Plot:...
(1943) — Lieutenant Schwegler - The Moon Is DownThe Moon Is DownThe Moon Is Down, a novel by John Steinbeck fashioned for adaption for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian Haakon VII Cross of freedom, was published by Viking Press in March 1942...
(1943) — Lieutenant Tonder