Famous Austrian Actors

Austrian-born actor John Banner is best remembered as Sergeant Schultz from the World War II-themed sitcom Hogan's Heroes. He was known for his popular catchphrase “I see nothing! I hear nothing! I know nothing!" He has also appeared on Broadway and in films such as Once Upon a Honeymoon. 

Maximilian Schell was an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Hans Rolfe in the 1961 courtroom drama film, Judgment at Nuremberg. Remembered for his versatility, Schell received the Golden Globe Award for playing Vladimir Lenin in the 1992 TV film, Stalin. A multi-talented personality, Schell was also an accomplished conductor and pianist.

Danny Nucci is an American actor best known for his work in successful films like Crimson Tide, The Rock, Eraser, and Titanic. Over the years, Danny Nucci has also contributed immensely to the TV industry, having played important roles in TV series like Falcon Crest, Snoops, 10-8: Officers on Duty, and The Fosters.

Legendary Austrian-American actor Theodore Bikel is best remembered for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sheriff Max Muller in the film The Defiant Ones. He had also ruled the stage with plays such as Fiddler on the Roof. As a folk singer, he sang in 21 languages and also played the guitar.

Klaus Maria Brandauer is an Austrian actor and director with an extensive career spanning six decades. He is known internationally for his roles in the films The Russia House and Out of Africa. He is multilingual and has a working knowledge of German, English, Hungarian, and French. He also works as a professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar.  

Leon Askin was a prominent actor of Austrian origin. Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, he fled to the United States in 1940 to escape the Nazis. Already trained in acting, he was able to get work in Hollywood. He ventured into television as well and became widely popular with his role in the sitcom Hogan's Heroes.  

Curd Jürgens was a German-Austrian actor active in both theater and films. Born to parents with no links to the cinema, he never aspired to be an actor and worked as a journalist. He later married an actress who encouraged him to act as well. Naturally skilled at acting, he went on to become a respected character actor.  

Helmut Berger is an Austrian actor who gained fame with his portrayal of narcissistic and sexually-ambiguous characters. He began his acting career in the 1960s and soon came to be regarded as a sex symbol and pop icon. He became a major star in European cinema in the late 1960s and 1970s. He is openly bisexual. 

Karlheinz Böhm was an Austrian-German philanthropist and actor. He is best remembered for playing a psychopathic named Mark in the 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film Peeping Tom. In 2003, the Ethiopian government honored Karlheinz Böhm with honorary citizenship for his work as the founder of an organization named Humans for Humans, which aims at helping Ethiopian people in need.

Jürgen Maurer is an Austrian actor who gained international fame with his role in the Austrian-coproduced crime drama Tatort. He received his acting training at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, following which he began his stage career. He eventually ventured into films and television as well. He has also appeared in English-language shows, including the British-Austrian series Vienna Blood. 

Anton Walbrook was an Austrian actor who established a career in the United Kingdom after leaving Austria in 1936 due to safety concerns. He is best remembered for playing important roles in films like The Red Shoes and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, where he played Boris Lermontov and Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff respectively.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe is an Austrian businessman best known for his association with the popular Swiss conglomerate corporation Nestlé Group, where he has served as the chairman, CEO, and chairman emeritus. Brabeck-Letmathe is also known for his work as the chairman of the Formula One Group.

Kurt Kasznar was an American actor who contributed immensely to Broadway, TV, and the film industry. He also served in the Second World War as a soldier and was among the first Army photographers from the USA to capture the ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on camera.

Roland Kickinger is an Austrian actor and bodybuilder best known for his appearances in several fitness magazines, bodybuilding competitions, and training videos. Kickinger is also known for his portrayal of Chip Rommel in the American sitcom Son of the Beach. He gained popularity in 2009 when he appeared as a prototype of the titular character in the film Terminator Salvation.

Lionel Royce was an Austrian-American stage and film actor. Born to a Jewish family in Vienna, he went through numerous struggles to survive and build a career in the 1920s and 1930s. He was finally able to emigrate to USA, where he had a thriving acting career. His last movie was the classic film noir, Gilda.  

Austrian actor Reggie Nalder was the son of an opera performer. With a face that was permanently disfigured by burns, he was typecast in villainous roles. He is best remembered for his iconic performance as Rien in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. He also knew 4 languages.

G.W. Pabst was an Austrian actor, director, and screenwriter. He studied drama at the Academy of Decorative Arts and became a stage actor. He soon started directing plays as well. He later became a film director with the movie The Treasure. He eventually came to be counted amongst the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. 

Turhan Bey was an Austrian-born actor of mixed ethnicity who was active in Hollywood for several years in the 1940s. Since he was part Turkish, he was dubbed "The Turkish Delight" by his fans. Born in Vienna, he moved to USA during the Nazi invasion. He studied acting and built a successful career in Hollywood. 

One of the many Austrian actors who escaped to the US to flee the Nazi regime, Oskar Homolka mostly played villains, many of them being spies, military officers, and scientists. His portrayal of Uncle Chris in the American drama film I Remember Mama earned him an Academy Award nomination.

Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor and film actor. The son of an actress, he often toured with his mother and developed a love for the theater. He also enjoyed singing and studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. He went on to become a tenor and an actor and also conducted at the Theater an der Wien. 

Austrian singer-actor Freddy Quinn has sung in 12 languages, such as German, French, and English. He soared to fame with his iconic hit Heimweh, which ruled the German charts for 5 months and sold over 8 million copies. His musicals include Freddy, the Guitar and the Sea.

Viennese actor Eric Pohlmann is best remembered for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the main villain of the James Bond franchise films Thunderball and From Russia with Love. He and his wife had both escaped the Nazi regime and taken up odd jobs at the house of the Duke of Bedford in the UK.

Austrian actor Karl Markovics was the son of working-class parents but shunned a regular job to become an actor instead. Best known for his portrayal of Ernst Stockinger in Inspector Rex and its spin-off, he also starred in the Oscar-winning film The Counterfeiters and appeared in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Joseph Egger was an Austrian character actor who appeared in both stage plays and films. He made 76 movie appearances in a film career spanning three decades. He began his stage career at the Leoben theater as a teenager and also worked at the Deutsches Theater. He entered cinema in the 1930s and played many character roles. 

Tobias Moretti is an Austrian actor best known for his appearance in the television series Inspector Rex. He studied composition at the Vienna University of Music and Applied Arts and learned acting at the renowned Otto-Falckenberg-Schule. He began his career with the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel theater and later entered television and cinema as well. He is married to a musician. 

Viennese showman Leo Singer is best remembered for managing the troupe Singer's Midgets, who performed as the Munchkins in the iconic MGM hit The Wizard of Oz. He was often called Papa by the Midgets. It was, however, believed that he often underpaid the performers, keeping half of their pay for himself.

Austrian entertainer Peter Alexander had initially studied medicine but quit as soon as he realized his passion lay in entertainment. Starting his career with plays and cabaret, he eventually graduated to films and live singing. The 10-time Bambi Award winner also hosted the hit Peter Alexander Show on TV.

Hansi Hinterseer is an Austrian former alpine skier turned singer, actor, and entertainer. As a skier, he won six alpine skiing World Cup races and the silver medal at the world championship in 1974. In the 1980s, he became a technical sports commentator and started a career as a singer and actor in the following decade.  

Known for his roles in spaghetti Westerns, such as Faccia a facia, Austrian actor William Berger had first started gaining attention with his Broadway performances. He also appeared in a series of horror films by Jesus Franco. Much of his career was plagued by drug abuse, which also had him jailed.

Erwin Alois Robert Leder is an Austrian actor best known for his role as Chief Mechanic Johann in the west German war film Das Boot. His role as the nameless serial killer in the horror film Angst also earned him considerable international recognition. The movie was banned in many countries for extreme violence. 

Viennese actor Jackie Gerlich is best remembered for playing a member of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz, a role his dwarfism helped him attain. He was posthumously honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He had arrived in America on an ocean liner in 1936.

Robert Hoffmann is an Austrian actor best known for his title role in the children’s television drama series The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. Following the success of this series, he ventured into films as well and appeared in numerous horror thrillers. He has worked with prominent directors, such as Marcel Carné, Robert Siodmak, and Antonio Pietrangeli.  

Robert Stadlober is an Austrian actor and musician who is a member of the Indie band Escorial Gruen. He worked as a voiceover artist for several films as a child and took up acting roles as well. He gained international prominence after playing a disabled teen in the film Crazy. He launched his independent record label, Siluh records, in 2007. 

At 17, Arno Frisch was offered the film Benny's Video by legendary filmmaker Michael Haneke. He next amazed audiences with Funny Games, which was played at the Cannes Film Festival and was also one of the most controversial films of the season, with him playing a sadist.

Austrian automobile designer and manufacturer Hans Ledwinka is remembered for his numerous patents and inventions, the most prominent of them all being the backbone chassis mechanism, which he incorporated in Tatra vehicles. He was jailed after being accused of collaborating with German forces during World War II.

Apart from being a doctor of chemistry, actor Frederick Stafford, famous for his roles in spy films, had also worked in the pharma industry briefly, and been a taxi driver and a lumberjack, too. He also claimed to have played water polo in the Olympics. He died in a mid-air aircraft collision.

The son of Viennese stage actor Rosa Albach-Retty, Wolf Albach-Retty followed in his mother’s footsteps to step into acting. Best known for his roles in plays by Athur Schnitler, he also appeared in many comedies, musicals, and romance movies. He is the father of German-French actor Romy Schneider.

Joseph Furst was an Austrian-born actor best known for his role in the television series Division 4. He appeared in numerous English-language films and was a popular figure in Canada, Britain, and Australia. He began his career in the 1950s and appeared in several television dramas. Buoyed by his success on television, he made his film debut in the 1960s. 

Bernhard Wicki was an Austrian actor and film director who gained international fame with his 1959 anti-war film Die Brücke. He studied at the drama school of the Staatliches Schauspielhaus in Berlin and began his career as an actor. Eventually, he began directing movies as well. He is a recipient of the Silver Bear for Best Director. 

Born to an opera singer, Ferdinand Marian quit his engineering studies and ran away from home to join theater. His breakthrough role of Don Pedro de Havila in La Habanera got him typecast in villainous roles. He died in a car accident, though many believe it was a suicide.

Austrian actor Sieghardt Rupp is best remembered for his performances in Westerns, such as A Fistful of Dollars, which mostly had him playing gangsters. He later became a sensation on TV, playing the iconic role of investigator Kressin in Tatort. His death was kept a secret for a year, for unknown reasons.

Helmut Qualtinger had quit studying medicine and literature to become a journalist. He later stepped into cabaret and theater, eventually deviating to films and TV. He filmed his last movie, The Name of the Rose, while seriously ill due to a liver condition and passed away 5 days after its release.

Austrian singer, actor, and playwright Johann Nestroy was part of the popular Austrian tradition of the Biedermeier era in Central Europe. He took part in the Revolutions of 1848 and the new liberal spirit which was spreading across Europe at that time reflected in his works. He penned around 80 comedies, including Einen Jux will er sich machen.