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Helmut Dantine

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Helmut Dantine
Dantine pictured in 1946
Born
Helmut Guttmann

(1918-10-07)7 October 1918
Vienna,Austria
Died2 May 1982(1982-05-02)(aged 63)
Beverly Hills, California,U.S.
Alma materUCLA
OccupationActor
Years active1940–1979
Spouses
  • Gwen Anderson
    (m.19??;div.1943)
Charlene Stafford Wrightsman
​
​
(m.1947;div.1950)​
Nicola "Niki" Schenck
​
​
(m.1958;div.1971)​
Children4

Helmut Dantine(7 October 1918 – 2 May 1982) was an Austrian-American actor who often played Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s.[1]His best-known performances are perhaps theGermanpilot inMrs. Miniverand the desperateBulgarianrefugee inCasablanca,who tries gambling to obtain travel visa money for himself and his wife. As his acting career waned, he turned to producing.

According to one obituary, "He specialized in portrayals of Nazis, sometimes as the handsome but icy SS sadist battling Allied heroes, sometimes as a sympathetic German soldier forced, against his better judgment, to fight".[1]

Early life

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Dantine's father, Alfred Guttmann, was the head of the Austrian railway system in Vienna.[2]As a young man, Dantine became involved inVienna's anti-Nazi movement. In 1938, when he was 19 years old, theNazistook over Austria during theAnschluss.Dantine was rounded up with hundreds of other opponents of theThird Reichand imprisoned in aNazi concentration campoutside Vienna.[2]

Three months later, using their influence, his parents obtained his release and immediately sent him toCaliforniato live with a friend. His father later died in Austria. His mother, Ditha Guttman, was safely brought to the U.S. in 1960 by her son to live in California. Ditha lived there until her death in 1983.[citation needed]

Film career

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Dantine enrolled at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles.His relatives thought he would go into business, but he became interested in theater. He began his U.S. acting career at thePasadena Playhouse,while running two gas stations in order to pay his expenses.[1][3][4]Dantine was spotted by a talent scout from Warner Bros, who signed him to a contract.[4]

Warner Bros

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Dantine had uncredited parts inInternational Squadron(1942) andTo Be or Not to Be(1942), before his first credited role in MGM'sMrs. Miniver(1942), playing a downed German pilot captured by the title character (played byGreer Garson). It was a huge hit, and Dantine received much positive attention from being in the film.

In August 1942, Warners signed him to a new acting contract.[5]The studio kept him busy with roles in theWorld War IIfilms,The Pied Piper(1942),Desperate Journey(1942) fightingErrol Flynn,andThe Navy Comes Through(1942).

He had a sympathetic role inCasablanca(1942), as a young refugee trying and failing to earn money via gambling in order to purchase travel visas for him and his wife; he is helped byHumphrey Bogart.Warners began to give Dantine more sizeable roles in their "A" films,Watch on the Rhine(1943),Edge of Darkness(1943), playing a Nazi officer, again fighting Errol Flynn, andMission to Moscow(1943), playing a sympathetic Russian.

Dantine's good looks caused him to receive a lot of fan mail and, in the words of one profile, "the studio began to realize it had something else besides a Hollywood Hitlerite on its hands."[4]Warners announced they had boughtNight ActionbyNorman Krasnaas a vehicle for Dantine,[6]but the film appears not to have been made. Instead, he had a large role playing the villain inNorthern Pursuit(1943), as a Nazi running loose in northern Canada fighting Errol Flynn again.[7]

Warner Bros. later cast him in a sympathetic role inPassage to Marseille(1944), and he was one of several stars inHollywood Canteen(1944). In 1944, exhibitors voting for "Stars of Tomorrow" picked Dantine at number 10.[8]

Warners gave him a sympathetic lead inHotel Berlin(1945) as the leader of the German underground. He was once again a Nazi on-the-run inEscape in the Desert(1945), a remake ofThe Petrified Forest.His last role for Warners was in thefilm noir,Shadow of a Woman(1946). He then left the studio.

Freelancer

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Dantine was the lead in another film noirWhispering City(1947) forEagle-Lion Films.

In 1947, he co-starred withTallulah Bankheadin the Broadway playThe Eagle Has Two Heads,replacingMarlon Brando.According toJean Cocteau,Bankhead made alterations to the play, and the production was a flop, lasting only 29 performances.[9]

Dantine was inNo Time for Comedyon stage in Washington[10]and also performed in the 1950 Broadway playParisienne.[11]He was also inArms and the Manat Cambridge Summer Playhouse.[12]

Dantine starred in the live but short-lived television seriesShadow of the Cloakduring the 1951–52 season. He had the lead in aB-movie,Guerrilla Girl(1953), then had a small role in the musical,Call Me Madam(1953), He was supported byPatricia Nealwhile starring in the Britishscience fiction filmStranger from Venus(1953).

Dantine acted in the 1956 film production of Tolstoy'sWar and Peaceas Dolokhov, a Cossack officer assigned to harrying the retreat of France's Napoleonic army from Moscow. He also had a small role inAlexander the Great(1956),Kean: Genius or Scoundrel(1957), andThe Story of Mankind(1957). He played the lead role inHell on Devil's Island(1957).

Dantine directed the 1958 military aviation filmThundering Jets,starringRex Reason,and continued to act in the filmsFräulein(1958) andTempest(1958).

Producing

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As his acting career wound down, he became a vice-president of Hollywood mogulJoseph Schenck's company, Schenck Enterprises, in 1959;[13]Schenck was his wife's uncle.

He later went to work as producer withRobert L. LippertProductions and then as president of Hand Enterprises Inc.

Among Dantine's later screen appearances, there were three films for which he was the executive producer:Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(1974) andThe Killer Elite(1975), both directed bySam Peckinpah,andThe Wilby Conspiracy(1975). He was also inThe Fifth Musketeer(1979) andTarzan the Ape Man(1981).

Personal life

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Before graduating from UCLA, he married fellow theater student Gwen Anderson; they divorced in 1943.[13]

In 1943, he was in a car accident and accused ofhit-and-run.[14]In January 1945 he was arrested for bitingIda Lupino's assistant on the arm during a New Year's Eve party; after apologizing to the assistant, he was released.[15]

He became an American citizen in April 1944.[16]

In 1947, he married Charlene Stafford Wrightsman (1927–1963),[13]the younger daughter ofCharles Bierer Wrightsman,an oil millionaire whose collection of French furniture and decorative arts fills several galleries at theMetropolitan Museum of Art.[17]The couple had a son, Dana Wrightsman Dantine, before divorcing in 1950.[13]His ex-wife claimed Dantine was after her father's money.[18]

In 1958, Dantine married Nicola Schenck, daughter ofNicholas Schenck,one of the founders ofLoews.His wife acted under the name Niki Dantine; the couple had three children: Dita, Nicola, and Shelley. In 1971, Helmut and Niki were divorced.[13][19]

Death

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On 2 May 1982, Helmut Dantine died inBeverly Hillsof aheart attackat age 63.[1][13]

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^abcd"Helmut Dantine, Film Actor; Often Played Arrogant Nazi".The New York Times.UPI.6 May 1982.
  2. ^abHarmetz, Aljean (2002).The Making of Casablanca. Bogart, Bergman, and World War II.New York: Hyperion. p. 211.ISBN978-0786888146.
  3. ^Helmut Dantine graduate of Pasadena stage(1943, May 03).Los Angeles Times
  4. ^abcGoodman, Ezra (February 13, 1944)."OUT OF THE FRYING PAN".The New York Times.RetrievedMay 23,2020.
  5. ^"SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD".The New York Times.August 5, 1942.
  6. ^"SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD".The New York Times.October 27, 1943.
  7. ^A film Nazi on his way to stardomH. H. (1943, Jun 06)The Washington Post
  8. ^"SAGA OF THE HIGH SEAS".The Mercury.Hobart, Tasmania. 11 November 1944. p. 9.Retrieved24 April2012– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^Jean Cocteau.Past Tense: Diaries:vol.1; translated by Richard Howard. (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1987) p. 36
  10. ^R.L.C. (1949, Aug 02).Edith Atwater, Helmut Dantine are effective in Behrman play.The Washington Post
  11. ^"Parisienne".IBDB.com.Internet Broadway Database.
  12. ^Helmut Dantine starring with Beatrice Pearson.E. F. (June 28, 1950).The Christian Science Monitor
  13. ^abcdef"Actor-producer Helmut Dantine dead at 63".The Miami News.Associated Press.6 May 1982.[dead link]
  14. ^Actor Helmut Dantine Accused in Hit-Run Case.(August 13, 1943).Los Angeles Times
  15. ^Dantine freed as he apologizes to actress' aide.(January 3, 1945).Los Angeles Times
  16. ^Nisei soldier given 15-year prison term.(April 15, 1944).Los Angeles Times
  17. ^Helmut Dantine weds.(1948, ).The Washington Post
  18. ^Heiress says actor mate sought money.(May 20, 1950).The Washington Post
  19. ^Kennedy, D. (May 10, 1982).Political activities as youth lent credibility to film roles.Los Angeles Times
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