From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Curt Bois April 5 1901 December 25 1991 was a German actor He is best remembered for his performance as the Pickpocket in Casablanca 1942 Bois was born in Berlin and began acting in 1907 becoming one of the film worlds first child actors with a role in the silent movie Bauernhaus und Grafenschloß In 1909 he played the title role in Der Kleine Detektiv The Little Detective Bois acting career spanned eighty years a span reached by few other actors His final performance was in 1987s Der Himmel über Berlin Wings of Desire Bois performed in theatre cabaret musicals silent film and talkies over his career as an actor In 1934 Bois was forced to leave his home for the United States where he found work on stage on Broadway By 1937 he had found his way to Hollywood and began acting in American pictures the bestknown of which was Casablanca 1942 with a single speech warning about pickpockets as vultures everywhere After World War II Bois decided it was safe to return to Germany which he did in 1950 He finished his life and career in Germany first in the East and finally in the West Bois died in Berlin the city of his birth at the age of ninety Description above from the Wikipedia article Curt Bois licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia