FRÖBE, GERT

(1913-1988)

Actor. Fröbe, as Gert Frobe, became the best known German actor of the 1960s by virtue of his performance in the title role of the 1964 James Bond thrillerGoldfinger. Prior to that award-winning performance, he had worked extensively as a stage actor in numerous theaters, including Vienna'sBurgtheater; his theater career actually began when he was a designer in Dresden, whereErich Pontodiscovered his acting talent. In the late 1940s, Fröbe worked withErich EngelinMunichat the Kammerspiele, and in Munich during those years he established himself as a cabaret comedian. In that capacity he began to get film roles in several German films, and from 1948 to 1964 he appeared in more than 70 of them. AfterGoldfinger, Fröbe appeared in 30 more films, includingIs Paris Burning? (1967) as Col. Dietrich von Choltitz, with Kirk Douglas and Glenn Ford; andChitty Chitty Bang Bang(1968) with Dick van Dyke. His crowning achievement as a stage actor came in 1973 when he played the charlatan theater director Immanuel Striese inFranz vonSchönthan's preposterous farceDer Raub der Sabinerinnen(The Rape of the Sabine Women) at the Munich Deutsches Theater; he reprised the role a decade later in a video production, which aired on the ARD network.