From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Wolfgang Preiss 27 February 1910 at Nuremberg 27 November 2002 at BadenBaden 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 Weidenmanns Canaris The following year Preiss played the lead role of Claus von Stauffenberg in Falk Harnacks 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 obligationconscious German officer to the other Alist actor playing the Fanatic IE 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 Premingers The Cardinal 1963 and with JeanPaul Belmondo in Is Paris Burning 1966 He starred alongside Burt Lancaster in John Frankenheimers The Train 1964 Frank Sinatra in Von Ryans 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 Attenboroughs allstar war epic A Bridge Too Far 1977 In addition for the cinemagoing 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 KleinRogge in Fritz Langs 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 miniseries 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 CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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