Anton Diffring
Overview
- AKA Antony Diffring
- Occupation Actor
- Birthname Alfred Pollack
- Birthdate October 20, 1918
- Birthplace Koblenz, Germany
- Died May 26, 1989 (Chateauneuf-de-Grasse, France)
- Character Colonel Paul Kramer
Biography
Many German actors fled from their country to escape Hitler. A it’s a bit strange to find so many of them playing “Nazi” roles in British and American films. Anton Diffring is such an actor. He emigrated to Canada in 1939 to restart his career as an actor.
After playing lots of theather in America he decided to move back to Germany, where he begun to take parts in films. His characters were often cold-hearted German military officers or untrustworthly gentlemen from unknown European contries. His most wellknowed films are I Am a Camera (the prototyp for Cabaret), The Sea Shall Not Have Them, Fahrenheit 451, Where Eagles Dare, Zeppelin and Victory. Even in his final film, Les Predateurs De La Nuit, he was portraying an unregenerated advocates of the Third Reich.
On Television Anton Diffring had several roles in famous films and TV-series. He played Dr. Frankenstein in a 1958 Hammer Studios pilot film based on the Mary Shelley novel. He as seen as “The Inspector” on the European-lensed Robert Conrad weekly series Assignment Vienna (1972-73). In the famous TV-series Winds of War he played the German foreign minister Joakim von Ribbentrop.
Selected films
- Great Manhunt, The - 1950
- Highly Dangerous - 1950
- Hotel Sahara - 1951
- Woman's Angle, The - 1952
- Paratrooper - 1953
- Sea Shall Not Have Them, The - 1954
- Colditz Story, The - 1955
- Mark of the Phoenix - 1958
- Man Who Could Cheat Death, The - 1959
- Heroes of Telemark, The - 1965
- Blue Max, The - 1966
- Counterpoint - 1968
- Where Eagles Dare - 1969
- Zeppelin - 1971
- Mark of the Devil II - 1972
- Little Mother - 1973
- Sutjeska - 1973
- La Morte Negli Occhi del Gatto - 1973
- Operation Daybreak - 1976
- Zwei gegen Tod und Teufel - 1976
- Vanessa - 1977
- S.A.S. San Salvador - 1982
- Winds of War, The (TV-series) - 1983
- Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death - 1984
- Marie Ward - Zwischen Galgen und Glorie - 1985
- Wahnfried - 1987
- Faceless - 1988
- Les Predateurs De La Nuit - 1988
A wonderful actor, and very goodlooking! My favourite. Thanks for this info, wish there was more about him.
Sue (number 1 fan!)
Anton Diffring appeared in the Doctor Who story “Silver Nemesis” (1988). And true to form he plays a Nazi leader, leading a group of Mercenaries in an attempt to resurect a new Reich (the 4th Reich), with the help of alien artifacts.
I saw most of Anton’s pictures. But my favorite of all is “Circus of Horrors” Loved him in the roll of Doctor Schuller!!! He Died too young.
I seem to recall that he was also in the tv series Flambards where he was a good guy for once.
This character as played is truly another bit the movie couldn’t possibly do without…..and this german actor is perfect…..
My father always reminds me when we see a picture of him(Anton Diffring)that he used to live in Shiplake near to Henley-On-Thames in Oxfordshire where I live.He can still recall seeing him in a local pub!
Anton diffring so hot to bad he is gay
Anton Diffring was smoking hot in the movie Albert RN and in the movie I am a camera and in operation daybreak and Circus of horrors . He is so damn sexy I am a big fan of anton
I believe he also played the part of the football commentator in the film Escape to Victory co-starring Michael Caine, Max Von Sydow and Sylvester Stallone to name but a few