
Wolfgang Preiss
Actor · 1910 – 2002 · Nuremberg, Germany
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 at Nuremberg - 27 November 2002 at Baden-Baden) was a German theatre, film and television actor. The son of a teacher, in the early 1930s Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck, making his stage début in Munich in 1932. He went to appear in various theatre productions in Heidelberg, Königsberg, Bonn, Bremen, Stuttgart and Berlin. In 1942 he made his film début - he was exempted from military service specifically - in the UFA production Die grosse Liebe with Zarah Leander. After the end of the Second World War Preiss returned to the theatre, and from 1949 worked extensively dubbing films into German. In 1954 he returned to film acting, appearing in Alfred Weidenmann's Canaris. The following year Preiss played the lead role of Claus von Stauffenberg in Falk Harnack's film Der 20. Juli, which dramatised the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. This role brought Preiss to popular attention and also the 1956 Federal Film Award. From now on Preiss was largely typecast in the role of the upright and obligation-conscious German officer to the other A-list actor playing the Fanatic (I.E. Paul Scofeld in The Train) a part he played in many films, later reprising it in numerous international productions, predominantly in Italy and the USA, while occasionally playing a more typically cynical or brutal Nazi officer. Preiss appeared in such productions as The Longest Day (1962), Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963), and with Jean-Paul Belmondo in Is Paris Burning? (1966). He starred alongside Burt Lancaster in John Frankenheimer's The Train (1964), Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express (1965), Robert Mitchum in Anzio (1968), with Richard Burton, in the title role of Erwin Rommel in Raid on Rommel (1971), and The Boys From Brazil (1978) with Gregory Peck. He also appeared in several Italian language films, credited as "Luppo Prezzo", and played Field Marshal Von Rundstedt in Richard Attenborough's all-star war epic A Bridge Too Far (1977). In addition, for the cinema-going public of West Germany he became the epitome of the evil genius in his role as Doctor Mabuse, a role he first played in 1960 (following Rudolf Klein-Rogge) in Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. He went on to play the role four more times. In the 1980s Preiss turned to television, notably playing General Walther von Brauchitsch in the American TV mini-series Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the books of Herman Wouk. In 1987 received a second Federal Film Award for his outstanding work in film. In film dubbing Preiss provided the voice for such actors as Lex Barker, Christopher Lee, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Richard Widmark, as well as that of Conrad Veidt as "Major Strasser" in the remastered version of Casablanca. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wolfgang Preiss, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies24
Movie7.6WarActionThe retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"
The Longest Day
1962 · 1.1K votes
Movie7.2DramaHistoryThe story of Operation Market Garden—a failed attempt by the allies in the latter stages of WWII to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) was doomed to failure.
A Bridge Too Far
1977 · 976 votes
Movie6.7DramaMysteryNazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot, masterminded by Dr. Josef Mengele, to rekindle the Third Reich.
The Boys from Brazil
1978 · 465 votes
Movie7.2WarDramaNear the end of World War II, General Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he's unable to maintain control of the city. After much contemplation, Choltitz ignores orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, alongside Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a leader organise his forces.
Movie6.8DramaHistoryEisenhower the military man is the focus of this mini-series, his relationships with the other wartime leaders, and, very discreetly, his personal relationship with his driver, Kay Summersby.
Ike
1979 · 3 votes
Movie6.5DramaHistoryA young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.
The Cardinal
1963 · 54 votes
Movie7.1WarActionVon Ryan's Express stars Frank Sinatra as a POW colonel who leads a daring escape from WWII Italy by taking over a freight train, but he has to win over the British soldiers he finds himself commanding.
Von Ryan's Express
1965 · 253 votes
Movie7.6WarThrillerAs the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim is desperate to take all of France's greatest paintings to Germany. He manages to secure a train to transport the valuable art works even as the chaos of retreat descends upon them. The French resistance however wants to stop them from stealing their national treasures but have received orders from London that they are not to be destroyed. The station master, Labiche, is tasked with scheduling the train and making it all happen smoothly but he is also part of a dwindling group of resistance fighters tasked with preventing the theft. He and others stage an elaborate ruse to keep the train from ever leaving French territory.
The Train
1964 · 393 votes
Movie4.9CrimeThrillerA pampered heiress inherits her father's pharmaceutical empire when he dies in a suspicious accident, and soon finds herself surrounded by ruthless board members and grasping family members who will seemingly stop at nothing to profit.
Bloodline
1979 · 52 votes
Movie5.6WarActionAmerican troops land unopposed on Italian beaches during World War II, but instead of pushing on to Rome, they dig in and the Germans fight back ferociously.
Movie6.1HorrorScience FictionHans von Arnam travels to a Flemish village to study a strange carousel located in an old windmill that displays famous murderesses and other notorious women from history. Professor Gregorius Wahl, owner of the windmill, warns Hans to stay away from his mysterious daughter Elfi, in order to keep Hans from discovering the horrible secret shared by the Professor and Elfi's Doctor.
Movie8.0AdventureDramaIn the early 1800s, Prussian geographer Alexander Von Humboldt and French botanist Aimé Bonpland launch an expedition to explore the Amazon region, including the Orinoco River, from Venezuela to the border of Portuguese Brazil.
Movie5.5ThrillerMysteryWhile investigating the death of a friend and fellow cop, Los Angeles police officer Barney Caine stumbles across evidence that Nazis created a synthetic alternative to gasoline during World War II. This revelation has the potential to end the established global oil industry, making the formula a very valuable and dangerous piece of information. Eventually, Caine must contend with oil tycoon Adam Steiffel, who clearly has his own agenda regarding the formula.
The Formula
1980 · 51 votes
Movie4.7CrimeMysteryIn the not-too-distant future Berlin is shocked by a series of spectacular suicides; a policeman's investigations lead him to a beautiful, enigmatic woman and the revelation of a sinister plot to manipulate the population through mass hypnosis.
Dr. M
1990 · 13 votes
Movie5.8WarActionCaptain Foster plans on raiding German-occupied Tobruk with hand- picked commandos, but a mixup leaves him with a medical unit led by a Quaker conscientious objector.
Raid on Rommel
1971 · 57 votes
Movie6.8CrimeMysteryA reporter is murdered while driving to his job. The Police are contacted by a clairvoyant who saw the death in a vision, but some dark force is preventing him from seeing the man behind the crime...
- MovieDrama
Peenemünde
1970
Movie7.0RomanceDramaOver two decades after their affair ended, a married man is haunted by the presence of his former lover.
Movie6.4WarThrillerBlacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.
The Counterfeit Traitor
1962 · 56 votes
Movie6.2ThrillerScience FictionThe evil Dr. Mabuse develops a death ray with which he threatens the world.
Movie6.0ThrillerActionA master thief, just out of prison, concocts a risky final score that would net him over a million dollars.
Movie6.1ThrillerMysteryWhen a young female student is savagely killed in a park during a thunderstorm, the culprit seems obvious: TV sports personality Alessandro Marchi, seen fleeing the scene of the crime by numerous eyewitnesses. The evidence against him is damning... but is it all too convenient? And when the killer strikes again while Marchi is in custody, it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to the case than meets the eye...
Movie6.6MysteryThrillerA journalist finds himself on the trail of a murderer who's been targeting people around him, while the police are considering him a suspect in their investigation.
Movie5.6DramaWarThe story of Lafayette, the 19 year old pacifist who takes the side of the Colonials during the American war of Independence.
Series22
TV6.2DramaCrimeTatort is a long-running German/Austrian/Swiss crime television series set in various parts of these countries. The show is broadcast on the channels of ARD in Germany, ORF in Austria and SF1 in Switzerland.
TV5.9CrimeSOKO 5113 is a long-running German police procedural television series. It was first aired in 1978 on 2 January. SOKO is an abbreviation of the term "Sonderkommission" in German.
SOKO München
1978 · 7 votes
TV5.7DramaCrimeEin Fall für zwei is a German television series, which premiered on September 11, 1981 on ZDF. The series, located in Frankfurt am Main, features two main characters who solve crimes: a defense attorney and a private investigator. Josef Matula, a former German police officer, has gone into private business. His method of investigation is very effective and direct, and he sometimes even resorts to dirty tricks. Claus Theo Gärtner has portrayed the role since the start of the series.
TV8.0DramaCrimeDer Kommissar is a German television series about a group of detectives of the Munich homicide squad. All 97 episodes, which were shot in black-and-white and first broadcast between 1969 and 1976, were written by Herbert Reinecker and starred Erik Ode as Kommissar Herbert Keller. Keller's assistants were Walter Grabert, Robert Heines, and Harry Klein who, in 1974, was replaced by his younger brother Erwin Klein.
TV8.0RealityDie Montagsmaler
1974 · 2 votes
TV9.3RealityDalli Dalli
1971 · 3 votes
TV8.0CrimeDas Kriminalmuseum was a German television series. It ran from 1963 to 1970 on ZDF and was one of its first programs. Each episode began with a tracking shot through an unspecified crime museum, stopping at one of the displays, whose story was then told. Each episode was between 60 and 75 minutes long and featured different actors as the criminal commissioner. The best known was Erik Ode, who in 1969 moved to Der Kommissar, appearing in 97 episodes. The theme music of the series was written by German composer Martin Böttcher, who also composed the complete scores for five episodes.
Das Kriminalmuseum
1963 · 3 votes
TV7.9DramaWar & PoliticsFollowing the attack on Pearl Harbor, the extended Henry and Jastrow families navigate the personal, social and political impacts of World War II, including the Holocaust, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Pacific theater.
War and Remembrance
1988 · 37 votes
- TV7.0Talk Show
Einer wird gewinnen
1964 · 2 votes
TV7.2Action & AdventureWar & PoliticsThe exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one Englishman — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".
The Rat Patrol
1966 · 22 votes
TV9.0FamilyEin Heim für Tiere is a German television series.
Ein Heim für Tiere
1985 · 2 votes
TV7.3War & PoliticsDramaAgainst the backdrop of world events that led to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Victor 'Pug' Henry is a career naval officer who, along with his family, learns to navigate the waters of his dangerous times in the late 1930s.
The Winds of War
1983 · 47 votes
TV8.0CrimeDie fünfte Kolonne is a German television series.
Die fünfte Kolonne
1963 · 2 votes
- TVDrama
Hungária kávéház
1976
- TV8.0Crime
Okay S.I.R.
1973 · 1 votes
TV7.3DramaWar & PoliticsIke, also known as Ike: The War Years, is a 1979 television miniseries about the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The screenplay by Melville Shavelson is based on Kay Summersby's 1948 memoir Eisenhower Was My Boss and her 1975 autobiography, Past Forgetting: My Love Affair. The series aired from May 3–6, 1979 on ABC. During World War II, General Dwight D. 'Ike' Eisenhower serves as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Western Europe. On a personal level, he has an extramarital affair with his driver Kay Summersby.
Ike
1979 · 3 votes
- TV10.0Drama
Der Anwalt
1976 · 1 votes
- TV9.0Drama
Ein heikler Fall
1986 · 1 votes
- TV7.0Reality
Zwischenmahlzeit
1963 · 1 votes
- TV8.0Drama
Gestern gelesen
1969 · 1 votes
- TVCrime
Sonne, Wein und harte Nüsse
1979 · 1 votes
TV10.0DramaRingstraßenpalais is an Austrian television series.
Ringstraßenpalais
1980 · 1 votes