Helmut Dantine (7 October 1918 â€" 2 May 1982) was an
Austrian-American actor who often played Nazis in thriller films of
the 1940s. His best-known performances are perhaps the German pilot in
Mrs. Miniver and the desperate refugee in Casablanca, 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".Dantine's father, Alfred Guttman, was the head of the Austrian
railway system in Vienna. As a young man, Dantine became involved in
Vienna's anti-Nazi movement. In 1938, when he was 19 years old, the
Nazis took over Austria during the Anschluss. Dantine was rounded up
with hundreds of other enemies of the Third Reich and imprisoned in a
Nazi concentration camp outside Vienna.Three months later, using their
influence, his parents obtained his release and immediately sent him
to California to 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.
Austrian-American actor who often played Nazis in thriller films of
the 1940s. His best-known performances are perhaps the German pilot in
Mrs. Miniver and the desperate refugee in Casablanca, 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".Dantine's father, Alfred Guttman, was the head of the Austrian
railway system in Vienna. As a young man, Dantine became involved in
Vienna's anti-Nazi movement. In 1938, when he was 19 years old, the
Nazis took over Austria during the Anschluss. Dantine was rounded up
with hundreds of other enemies of the Third Reich and imprisoned in a
Nazi concentration camp outside Vienna.Three months later, using their
influence, his parents obtained his release and immediately sent him
to California to 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.
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