Karl Stepanek
Acting • Born 1899-10-27 – Died 1980-12-25
Biography
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).
Filmography
69 credits
Man of the Moment
Movie • 1955
Lom
Murderers Club of Brooklyn
Movie • 1967
Dyers
The Fallen Idol
Movie • 1948
First Secretary
Devil Doll
Movie • 1964
Dr. Heller
Operation Crossbow
Movie • 1965
Prof. Hoffer
Affair in Trinidad
Movie • 1952
Walters
Anastasia
Movie • 1956
Mikhail Vlados
The Cockleshell Heroes
Movie • 1955
Assistant Gestapo Officer
Never Let Me Go
Movie • 1953
Commissar
City Beneath the Sea
Movie • 1953
Dwight Trevor
Sink the Bismarck!
Movie • 1960
Admiral Lutjens - 'Bismarck'
The File of the Golden Goose
Movie • 1969
Mueller
Die Fledermaus
Movie • 1937
Attaché Baranoff / Orlovsky
The Captive Heart
Movie • 1946
Forster
They Met in the Dark
Movie • 1943
Riccardo
Conspirator
Movie • 1949
Radek
Walk East on Beacon
Movie • 1952
Alexi Laschenkov / Gregory Anders
The Frozen Dead
Movie • 1966
General Lubeck
Secret Venture
Movie • 1955
Zelinsky
Sperrbezirk
Movie • 1966
Inspector Wagner
A Prize of Gold
Movie • 1955
Dr. Zachmann
Before Winter Comes
Movie • 1969
Count Kerassy
Tale of Three Women
Movie • 1954
Alfred Dykemann (segment "Final Twist' story)
Licensed to Kill
Movie • 1965
Henrik Jacobsen
Dangerous Cargo
Movie • 1954
Pliny
Cairo Road
Movie • 1950
Edouardo Pavlis
West of Suez
Movie • 1957
Langford
Operation Amsterdam
Movie • 1959
Diamond Merchant
Five from the Jazzband
Movie • 1932
Jean
Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf
Movie • 1931
Tomorrow We Live
Movie • 1943
Seitz
The Third Man
Movie • 1949
Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
Give Us This Day
Movie • 1949
Jaroslav
Rough Shoot
Movie • 1953
Diss
Secret Mission
Movie • 1942
Major Lang
The Leghorn Hat
Movie • 1939
Felix, Diener bei Farina
The Third Visitor
Movie • 1951
Richard Carling
Brainwashed
Movie • 1960
Baranow
The Heroes of Telemark
Movie • 1965
Hartmuller
The Unknown
Movie • 1936
Manager at Regina's
Escape to Danger
Movie • 1943
Franz von Brinkman
Here's Berlin
Movie • 1932
Max
A Song for You
Movie • 1933
Theo Bruckner
War es der im 3. Stock?
Movie • 1939
Georg Kilby
Hermine and the Seven Upright Men
Movie • 1935
Ruckstuhl
Der Außenseiter
Movie • 1935
Otto Burian
Spione im Savoy-Hotel
Movie • 1932
Jackson
State Secret
Movie • 1950
Dr. Revo
Broken Journey
Movie • 1948
Swiss Officer (uncredited)
The Man in the Road
Movie • 1956
Dmitri Balinkev
Aufstand der Gehorsamen
Movie • 1963
Jawor Stranski
The Games
Movie • 1970
Kubitsek
Narren im Schnee
Movie • 1938
Rolf Pinkenkötter
Waltz War
Movie • 1933
Kellner Leopold
The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
Movie • 2003
Our Man in Havana
Movie • 1960
Dr. Braun
Golden Arrow
Movie • 1949
Schroeder
No Highway in the Sky
Movie • 1951
Hotel Sacher
Movie • 1939
Franz
Klatovští dragouni
Movie • 1938
The Traitor
Movie • 1957
Friederich Suderman
Na růžích ustláno
Movie • 1935
Pozdní láska
Movie • 1935
Counterblast
Movie • 1948
Professor Inman
Our Film
Movie • 1942
Soviet Visitor
Die Werft zum grauen Hecht
Movie • 1935
Ladewig
Das Kriminalmuseum
TV • 1963
Dr. Robert Großmann
Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!
TV • 1957
Rubici
No Hiding Place
TV • 1959
Professor Remi