Wolfgang Kieling Biography

German actor (1924–1985)

Wolfgang Kieling (16 March 1924 – 7 October 1985) was a German actor.

Biography

In films since childhood in his native Germany, Kieling appeared in a few American films, notably in Alfred Hitch*'s Torn Curtain (1966), where he played Gromek, an East German agent brutally slain by Paul Newman's character. He also played Gromek's brother in a scene that was deleted from the final print.

Kieling had a small role in $ (aka, The Heist, 1971), starring Warren Beatty. In a British film, Amsterdam Affair (1968), he portrayed the fictional Dutch detective Van der Valk several years before Barry Foster (another Hitch* alumnus) was cast in the same role for the British TV series. He did much work on West German TV, including the first episode of Derrick ("Waldweg", 1974).

The best of his later roles was in the film Out of Order (1984), originally *led Abwärts. In the German-language version of Disneys Alice in Wonderland he dubbed the Mad Hatter.

Early on, Kieling also became a dubbing actor for West German dubs of foreign films, serving as the standard dubbing voice of Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra (in his 1950s films), and he also dubbed Charlton Heston in the first part of the Planet of the Apes franchise. Thanks to his voice's similarity to that of Gert Günther Hoffmann, he would also replace Hoffmann as the dubbing voice of Paul Newman when Hoffmann was not available. On TV, he was especially known as the German voice of Bert (see Bert and Ernie) from Sesame Street up until his death in 1985.

During World War II, Kieling was conscripted into the German Army in 1942, where he was severely wounded and captured in 1945. He was held in a Russian POW camp until 1949, during which he organized plays at various prison camps.

In October 1952, his wife Jola Jobst (ex-wife of German Luftwaffe ace Hermann Graf), whom he had married in 1950, committed suicide.

In March 1968, he moved from West Germany to East Germany because of West German support for the United States, which he became disillusioned with after witnessing the Watts riots firsthand during the filming of Torn Curtain. After defecting he called the United States "the most dangerous enemy of humanity in the world today" with its "crimes against the Negro and the people of Vietnam".

Selected filmography

Child actor

• Die lustigen Weiber (1936) - Bit Part (uncredited)
• Maria the Maid (1936) - Christoph - Marias little brother
• Die Kreutzersonate (1937) - W*ja
• Heimweh (1937) - Robby, Sohn des Bankpräsidenten
• Women for Golden Hill (1938) - Pat
• Altes Herz geht auf die Reise: (1938, released 1947) - Der Solist im Schulchor
• The Journey to Tilsit (1939) - Klein Franz
• Seitensprünge (1940) - Hotelboy
• Falstaff in Vienna (1940) - Loisl - Lehrling bei Meister Sturm
• Herz geht vor Anker (1940) - Schiffsjunge
• Somewhere in Berlin (1941) - Bürolehrling bei Dr. Horn
• Jenny und der Herr im Frack: (1941) - Hotelpage im "Tivoli" (uncredited)

Actor

• Genesung (1956) - Friedel Walter
• Damals in Paris (1956) - René
• Duped Till Doomsday (1957) - Gefreiter Lick
• The Man Who Couldn't Say No (1958) - Untersuchungsrichter
• Arzt ohne Gewissen: (1959) - Dr. Stein
• Agatha, Stop That Murdering! (1960) - Philip
• Lysistrata: (1961) - Dr. Salbach
• The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi (1961) - Narrator (voice, uncredited)
• The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1961) - Dimanche
• Mörderspiel: (1961) - Kriminalinspektor Arnold
• Heute kündigt mir mein Mann: (1963) - Schwarzkopf
• Time of the Innocent (1964)
• Polizeirevier Davidswache: (1964) - Hauptwachtmeister Glantz
• The Physicists: (1964, TV film) - Möbius
• The House in Karp Lane (1965) - Karl Marek
• Hotel der toten Gäste (1965) - Jack Courtney
• The Bandits of the Rio Grande (1965) - Barran
• Our Man in Jamaica (1965) - Elmer Hayes / Nick
• Duel at Sundown (1965) - Punch
• Congress of Love: (1966) - Napoleon's double
• Torn Curtain (1966) - Hermann Gromek
• S.O.S. – Morro Castle: (1966, TV film) - George Rogers
• Hotel Clausewitz (1967) - Stemmka
• The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) - Dr. Lieberson
• Dead Run (1967) - Wolfgang
• The House of 1,000 Dolls (1967) - Inspector Emil
• Operazione San Pietro (1967) - Poulain
• Im Banne des Unheimlichen (1968) - Sir Cecil
• Tevye and His Seven Daughters (1968) - Poperilli
• Amsterdam Affair (1968) - Van Der Valk
• Das siebente Jahr (1969) - Günter Heim
• Jungfer, Sie gefällt mir (1969) - Adam
• Aus unserer Zeit: (1970) - Böttcher (segment "Das Duell")
• Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment (1971) - Godoy
• $ (1971) - Granich
• Tatort: Strandgut: (1972, TV series episode) - Dr. Rudolf Kühne
• Sonderdezernat K1: Vier Schüsse auf den Mörder (1972, TV series episode) - Siegfried Kalweit
• The Death Avenger of Soho: (1972) - Ferencz
• Bremen Freedom: (1972, TV film) - Mr. Timm
• Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben: (1973, TV miniseries) - Gebhardt
• Im Reservat: (1973, TV film) - Alfred Bergmann
• Vreemde Wêreld (1974) - Iwan Elzer
• Derrick: Waldweg (1974, TV series episode) - Rudolf Manger
• Härte 10: (1974, TV miniseries) - Martin Melchior
• Bei Westwind hört man keinen Schuß: (1976, TV film) - Anselm Kiwitt
• Die Kette: (1977, TV film) - Heaton
• Der Geist der Mirabelle (1978, TV film) - Harms
• The Fall: (1979) - Edmund Gabriel
• Die Stühle des Herrn Szmil (1979, TV film) - Kasch
• Tatort: Schweigegeld (1979, TV series episode) - Helmuth Klaven
• A Guru Comes (1980, TV film) - Lawyer / Narrator
• Exil (1981, TV miniseries) - Gingold
• Der König und sein Narr: (1981, TV film) - Prof. Jacob Paul von Gundling
• Der Spot oder Fast eine Karriere: (1981, TV film) - Ingelmann
• The Oppermanns: (1983, TV film) - Martin Oppermann
• The Old Fox: Der vierte Mann (1983, TV series episode) - Helmut Schäffert
• Satan ist auf Gottes Seite (1983, TV film) - Carow
• The Heart of the Matter (1983, TV film) - Yusef
• Man Under Suspicion (1984) - Reporter 'Watergate'
• Out of Order (1984) - Gössmann
• The Old Fox: Der Kl*enkamerad (1984, TV series episode) - Walter Nolle
• Patrik Pacard (1984, TV miniseries) - Professor Olaf Gunström
• Der Schiedsrichter (1985, TV film) - Karl Bisst
• Non-Stop Trouble with the Family: (1985) - Notar Prätorius
• The Black Forest Clinic (1985–1986, TV series, 4 episodes) - Dr. Ignaz Marker

References

External links

• Wolfgang Kieling at IMDb
• Wolfgang Kieling at Find a Grave