Gert Fröbe

Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe (German: [ˈɡɛɐ̯t ˈfʁøːbə] ^ⓘ; 25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor. He was known in English-speaking countries for his work as the title character in the James Bond film Goldfinger, as Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, as Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as Hotzenplotz in The Robber Hotzenplotz, General Dietrich von Choltitz in Is Paris Burning? and Colonel Manfred von Holstein in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

Gert Fröbe
Fröbe at the premiere of Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines in 1965
Born	Karl Gerhart Fröbe (1913-02-25)25 February 1913 Oberplanitz (near Zwickau), Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire
Died	5 September 1988(1988-09-05) (aged 75) Munich, West Germany
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1948–1987
Political party	Nazi Party (1929–1937)
Spouse(s)	Karin Kuderer-Pistorius (1970–?) Beate Bach (1962–1968) Hannelore Görtz (1953–1959) Tatjana Iwanow Clara Peter
Children	2

Fröbe was a three-time German Film Award nominee, twice for Best Leading Actor and once for Best Supporting Actor. In 1978, he won an honorary award for "outstanding individual contributions to the German cinema over the years."

Early life and education

Fröbe was born in Oberplanitz, today part of Zwickau. He was initially a violinist, but he abandoned it for Kabarett and theatre work.^[1]

He joined the Nazi Party in 1929 at the age of 16 and left in 1937, before the outbreak of the Second World War.^[2] After his party membership became known after the war, Israel banned Fröbe's films until Mario Blumenau, a Jewish survivor, revealed just eight weeks later that his life and his mother's were probably saved when Fröbe hid them from the Nazis in his basement.^[3]

In September 1944, theatres in Germany were closed down and Fröbe was drafted into the German Army, where he served until the end of the war.^[1]

Career

Fröbe gained fame in one of the first German films made after the War, called Berliner Ballade (The Ballad of Berlin, 1948). His character's name, "Otto Normalverbraucher" (lit. Otto Average Consumer), became the German term equivalent to "Average Joe".^[4]

He was cast as the villain in the Swiss-West German-Spanish film Es geschah am hellichten Tag (It Happened in Broad Daylight, 1958), with the original screenplay written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. His role as a serial killer of children drew the attention of the producers of the James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964) and he was chosen to play one of the best remembered villains of the series, gold tycoon Auric Goldfinger. He later remarked, "The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain – a man without laughs."^[5]

Fröbe in 1965

Fröbe made several appearances in all-star casts in the 1960s, including the films The Longest Day (1962), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Is Paris Burning? (1966),Triple Cross (1966), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and Monte Carlo or Bust (1969).

During the 1980s, Fröbe was a spokesman in Mercedes Benz W123 commercials, helping to promote the coupé and the sedan.

Death

Fröbe died in Munich in September 1988 at age 75 from a heart attack.^[3] He was buried at the Waldfriedhof cemetery in Icking.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
1948	Der Herr vom andern Stern [de]	Extra	German	Uncredited
	The Berliner	Otto Normalverbraucher	German
1949	After the Rain Comes Sunshine	Konstantin	German
1951	Decision Before Dawn	German Corporal	English	Uncredited
1952	The Day Before the Wedding	Rundfunkreporter	German
1953	Man on a Tightrope	Police Agent	English	Uncredited
	Salto Mortale	Jan	German
	A Heart Plays False	Briefüberbringer	German
	The Postponed Wedding Night	Gondoliere	German
	Arlette Conquers Paris	Manager Edmond Duval	German
	Wedding in Transit	Herr Mengwasser	German
1954	The Little Town Will Go to Sleep	Oskar Blume	German
	Daybreak	Bit part	German
	The Hunter's Cross	Kobbe	German
	They Were So Young	Lobos	English
	A Double Life	Mittelmeier	German
	The Eternal Waltz	Gawriloff	German
1955	Special Delivery	Olaf	English
	The Dark Star	Deltorri	German
	I Know What I'm Living For	Pfeifer, Inspektor Jugendfürsorge	German
	Mr. Arkadin	Munich Detective	English
	The Heroes Are Tired	Hermann	French
	The Forest House in Tyrol	Bäuerle, Kaufmann	German
1956	The Girl from Flanders	Rittmeister Kupfer	German
	Ein Herz schlägt für Erika [de]	Heubacher	German
	Winter in the Woods	Gerstenberg	German
1957	Typhoon Over Nagasaki	Ritter	French
	The Girl and the Legend	Mr. Gillis	German
	He Who Must Die	Patriarcheos	French
	The Mad Bomberg	Kommerzienrat Gustav-Eberhard Mühlberg	German
	Charming Boys	Edmond Petersen	French
	The Heart of St. Pauli	Jabowski	German
1958	Not Delivered	Hans	French
	Nasser Asphalt	Jupp	German
	It Happened in Broad Daylight	Schrott	German
	Rosemary	Willy Bruster	German
	Grabenplatz 17 [de]	Titu Goritsch	German
	The Crammer	Freddy Blei	German
	The Girl with the Cat Eyes [de]	Tessmann	German
1959	Nick Knatterton's Adventure	Hugo	German
	Prisoner of the Volga	Professor	English
	Douze heures d'horloge [fr]	Blanche	French
	Jons und Erdme	Smailus	German
	The Forests Sing Forever	Dag	German
	Menschen im Hotel	Preysing	German
	The Day the Rains Came	Doctor Albert Maurer	German
	Der Schatz vom Toplitzsee [de]	Johannes Grohmann	German
	Old Heidelberg	Doctor Jüttner	German
1960	The High Life	Doctor Kölling	German
	Le Bois des amants [fr]	The General	French
	Soldatensender Calais	Der Chef	German
	The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse	Inspector Kras	German
	Until Money Departs You	Jupp Grapsch	German
	Crook and the Cross [de]	Paul Wittkowski	German
1961	The Green Archer	Abel Bellamy	German
	Via Mala	Jonas Lauretz	German
	The Return of Doctor Mabuse [note 1]	Kommissar Lohmann	German	USA screening in 1966
	Auf Wiedersehen	Angelo Pirrone	German
1962	Redhead	Kramer	German
	The Testament of Dr. Mabuse	Kommissar Lohmann	German
	The Longest Day	Sgt. Kaffeekanne	English
1963	Enough Rope	Melchior Kimmel	French
	Heute kündigt mir mein Mann [de]	Alfred Paulsen	German
	Three Penny Opera [de]	Peachum	German
	Banana Peel	Raymond Lachard	French
1964	Greed in the Sun	Castigliano	French
	Tonio Kröger	Policeman Peterson	German
	Backfire	Karl Fehrman	French
	Goldfinger	Auric Goldfinger	English	Dubbed into English by Michael Collins.
1965	A High Wind in Jamaica	Dutch Captain	English
	Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines	Colonel Manfred von Holstein	English
	Who Wants to Sleep?	Emil Claasen	German
1966	The Upper Hand	Walter	French
	Ganovenehre [de]	Importen-Paul	German
	Is Paris Burning?	General Dietrich von Choltitz	English
	Triple Cross	Colonel Steinhager	English
1967	I Killed Rasputin	Grigori Rasputin	English
	Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon	Professor von Bulow	English
1968	Darling Caroline	Doctor Belhomme	French
	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Baron Bomburst	English
1969	Monte Carlo or Bust [note 2]	Willi Schickel / Horst Muller	English
1971	$	Mr. Kessel	English
1972	Ludwig	Father Hoffmann	English
1974	The Robber Hotzenplotz [de]	Hotzenplotz	German
	And Then There Were None	Wilhelm Blore	English	Dubbed into English by Robert Rietti.
	Nuits Rouges	Commissaire Sorbier	French
1975	Docteur Justice [fr]	Max Orwall	French
1976	Death Rite	Vestar	French
1977	Das Gesetz des Clans [de]	Philip Brown	German
	The Serpent's Egg	Inspector Bauer	English
	Death or Freedom [de]	Graf von Buttlar	German
1978	The Rider on the White Horse	Tede Volkerts	German
	Der Tiefstapler [de]	Felix von Korn	German
1979	Bloodline	Inspector Max Hornung	English
1980	The Umbrella Coup	Otto Krampe ("Whale")	French
1981	The Falcon	Jug Bogdan	Serbo-Croatian
1983	The Abduction of the Sabine Women [de]	Emanuel Striese	German	TV film
1986–1987	The Little Vampire	Detective Gurrmeyer	German	TV series, 13 episodes

Notes

1. Also known as The Phantom Fiend.
2. Also known as Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies.

References

1. Fokart, Burt A. (7 September 1988). "Gert Frobe, 75; Portrayed Goldfinger in Bond Movie". Los Angeles Times.
2. "Hotzenplotz und Pickelhaube". kultiversum.de (in German). 2 February 2010.
3. "Gert Frobe, an Actor, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Associated Press. 6 September 1988. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
4. Deutsches Bühnen-Jahrbuch. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
5. Battersby, Matilda (2 January 2013). "'No, Mr Bond, I Expect You to Die': Showdown Between Goldfinger and Sean Connery Voted Greatest James Bond Moment". The Independent. Retrieved 14 July 2019.

External links

• Biography portal

• Gert Fröbe at IMDb
• Gert Fröbe at Find a Grave

James Bond
Preceded by Joseph Wiseman Dr. No	Titular Character Actor 1964	Succeeded by Christopher Lee TMWTGG
Preceded by Lotte Lenya	Villain Actor 1964	Succeeded by Adolfo Celi