
Karl Stepanek
Born October 27, 1899 · Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
Though born in Czechoslovakia, actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany (as Karl Stepanek) in the years before World War II. Stepanek fled to England in 1940, where, like many European refugee actors, he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains. He tried to stay away from out-and-out Nazi roles, but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepanek's screen characters. One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart; Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol (1949). Commuting between London and Hollywood, Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II, usually on the wrong side, into such '60s films as Sink the Bismarck! (1960), I Aim at the Stars (1960) and Operation Crossbow (1965).
Notable Appearances
More Movies

The Heroes of Telemark

Sink the Bismarck!

No Highway in the Sky

Our Man in Havana

Operation Crossbow

Anastasia

City Beneath the Sea

Affair in Trinidad

The File of the Golden Goose

I Aim at the Stars

Man of the Moment

Never Let Me Go

A Prize of Gold

State Secret

The Fallen Idol

Conspirator

The Cockleshell Heroes

Brainwashed

Give Us This Day

Three Fathers for Anna

Pozdní láska

The Captive Heart

Operation Amsterdam

Walk East on Beacon

Devil Doll

The Frozen Dead

The Games

Cairo Road

The Bat

Secret Mission

Another Experience

The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway

Spione im Savoy-Hotel

They Met in the Dark

The Man in the Road

The Traitor

Before Winter Comes

Murderers Club of Brooklyn

Counterblast

Tale of Three Women

Licensed to Kill

Na růžích ustláno

Alles Schwindel

Tomorrow We Live

War es der im 3. Stock?

A Song for You

Five from the Jazzband

The Grey Pikes Wharf

Escape to Danger

Sperrbezirk

Waltz War

Here's Berlin

Rough Shoot

The Third Visitor

Broken Journey

Dangerous Cargo

The Unknown

Golden Arrow

Secret Venture

Hotel Sacher

Stronger Than Paragraphs

Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf

West of Suez

Narren im Schnee

The Leghorn Hat

Der Außenseiter




