Hans Meyer (actor)
South African actor (1925–2020)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans Meyer (21 July 1925 – 3 April 2020) was a South African-French actor and model.[1] He was well-known for his role as Hauptmann Franz Ulmann on the British television series Colditz.[2]
Hans Meyer | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 21, 1925 |
| Died | April 3, 2020 (aged 94) Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France |
| Occupations | Actor, model |
| Years active | 1961–2014 |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
Meyer was born to German parents[citation needed] in Paulpietersburg, Natal Province, South Africa[3] in July 1925.[2] Both of his parents were farmers, and Meyer initially followed in their footsteps, before deciding to move to Europe and pursue his own fortune.
He worked initially as a model[2] where he posed for book covers until a friend in Germany working for an advertising agency lined up his first work as an actor, a television advert for Puschkin Vodka.[2][3] The brand became Germany's best-selling vodka and Meyer became known as "Frank S. Thorn, the Puschkin Man". He also inspired the appearance of British comic strip hero Jeff Hawke.[4]
Career
Meyer was hired by Anatole Litvak as an extra for his film The Night of the Generals (1967).[2] He went on the play supporting roles in French films alongside French cinema stars such as Lino Ventura, Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1966, he was engaged for La grande vadrouille, where he embodied an angry SS representative. In 1968 he played in the action thriller The Devil's Garden by Yves Boisset.[2] In 1969, he took on the role of Sheriff Blade in the thriller Les Étrangers, shot in Spain.
In the 1970s, Meyer acted in the Western Cannon for Cordoba (1970), in the role of the Swedish major Svedborg, the leader of a private mercenary army. He played a continuous series role in the British television series Colditz (1972–1974). In 1975 he had a small role in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Barry Lyndon. In 1978, he appeared in the miniseries Holocaust: The History of the Weiss Family, in which played the SS official Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
In the 1980s, Meyer's roles included an assassin, whom Yves Rénier and title heroine Claude Jade ultimately put to the test in the television movie The Girlfriend from Childhood (L'amie d'enfance, 1981), from the Commissaire Moulin series. Meyer portrayed Red Sonja's father in Red Sonja (1985) opposite Brigitte Nielsen.[2]
In the 1990s, he appeared on The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes as Hebworth/Veitch in "The Master Blackmailer" (1992), and in a small part as a German Officer in Steven Spielberg's and George Lucas's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992).[2]
In the 2000s, Meyer's roles included Marquis d'Apcher in the French cult movie Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001),[5] Konrad Adenauer in the television movie How Much We Hated Each Other (2007), and Luis Aramchek in the Hitler in Hollywood (2010). His final screen appearance was in the thriller Cruel (2014).[2]
Death
Meyer died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France on 3 April 2020 at the age of 94.[6][2]
Filmography
Film
- 1965: Pierrot le Fou - Gangster (uncredited)[7]
- 1966: Culpable para un delito - Martín Baumer
- 1966: La Grande Vadrouille - Obergruppenführer S.S. Otto Weber
- 1966: Little Girls - Mike
- 1967: The Night of the Generals - Wehrmacht Adjutant (uncredited)[2]
- 1967: The Last Adventure - Le mercenaire
- 1967: Salut les copines - Mike
- 1967: Réseau secret - Hermann Glöckel
- 1967: Un épais manteau de sang - Sorenson
- 1967: Le Crime de David Levinstein - Schrank
- 1968: Coplan Saves His Skin - Hugo
- 1969: Erotic Trap - Varen
- 1969: Les Étrangers - Blade
- 1970: Cannon for Cordoba - Svedborg
- 1970: Comme il est court le temps d'aimer - Marc
- 1970: Les enfants de Caïn
- 1971: Perched on a Tree - Colonel Muller
- 1971: Valparaiso, Valparaiso - Helmut
- 1972: Pic et pic et colegram - Jeroboam
- 1973: Le Magnifique - Colonel Collins
- 1975: Barry Lyndon - Prussian Officer
- 1976: Blondie - Inspector
- 1977: Le mille-pattes fait des claquettes - Général Von Richter
- 1979: La nuit claire - Pluton
- 1979: The Riddle of the Sands - Grimm
- 1979: La Gueule de l'autre - Richard Krauss
- 1980: Strangulation Blues (short)
- 1984: Boy Meets Girl - Le cosmonaute
- 1984: Tueur maison (Short)
- 1985: Ça n'arrive qu'à moi - Le responsible de la station Malabar
- 1985: Red Sonja - Red Sonja's Father
- 1986: The Night Is Young - Hans
- 1988: Ville étrangère - L'ambassadeur
- 1989: Céleri remoulade (Short)
- 1989: Roselyne and the Lions - Rainer
- 1989: La Révolution française - Le Duc de Brunswick
- 1989: Bunker Palace Hôtel - Le président
- 1989: L'Orchestre rouge - Nazi General
- 1992: John (Short) - John / Tarzan
- 1992: Une cuillerée pour papa (Short)
- 1993: Artcore oder Der Neger
- 1994: Le Terminus de Rita
- 1995: L'entretien (Short)
- 1997: Double Team - British Man
- 1997: K - Gûter
- 1997: Entre les vagues (Short)
- 2000: Le birdwatcher - Mitch Glassborough
- 2001: Le pacte des loups - Marquis d'Apcher
- 2002: Morteterre (Short) - Compt Klaus de Rexel
- 2003: The Dope - Rudolf Maier
- 2003: Baptiste (Short)
- 2003: Ripoux 3 - Van der Brook
- 2004: Albert est méchant - James Lord Cooke
- 2005: Sauf le respect que je vous dois - Lunel
- 2006: Final Sentence (Short) - The Inquisitor - The priest
- 2007: La piscine de maman (Short)
- 2010: Hitler à Hollywood - Luis Aramchek
- 2014: Cruel - Le libraire (final film role)
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Koenigsmark | Le grand Duc | TV movie |
| 1969 | The Troubleshooters | Joachim Schmitt-Klever | 1 episode |
| S.O.S. fréquence 17 | Joseph Kieffer | 1 episode | |
| Department S | Lucky Le Beau | 1 episode | |
| 1970 | Codename | General Hovaths | 1 episode |
| 1971 | Paul Temple | Brad | 1 episode |
| Kate | Frohl Svenson | 1 episode | |
| Jason King | Angelo | 1 episode | |
| 1972–74 | Colditz | Hauptmann Franz Ulmann | 23 episodes |
| 1973 | La folie Almayer | Le capitaine Linguard | TV movie |
| 1974 | Thriller | Karl Vorster | 'The Next Scream You Hear', episode |
| Heidi | Grandfather | TV miniseries | |
| 1975 | Quiller | Major Hardtmann | 1 episode |
| 1976 | Les Monte-en-l'air | Briefer | TV movie |
| The Howerd Confessions | Lieutenant Gruber | epidode 2 | |
| 1977 | Fachoda, la mission Marchand | L'agent des trafiquants | TV miniseries |
| 1978 | Holocaust | Ernst Kaltenbrunner | TV miniseries |
| Les grandes conjurations: Le connétable de Bourbon | Frunsberg | TV movie | |
| 1979 | Quest of Eagles | Sandor | 2 episodes |
| 1979, 1985 | Minder | Kurt Wengler / Maurice Bonnet | 2 episodes |
| 1980 | Opération Trafics | Hans | 1 episode |
| 1981 | BBC2 Playhouse | Janos Almasy | 1 episode |
| Commissaire Moulin | L'assassin au grenade | Episode: "L'Amie d'enfance" | |
| Sans famille | Driscoll | TV movie | |
| 1982 | Les Amours des années grises | Von Postel | 1 episode |
| Inside the Third Reich | Ernst Kaltenbrunner | TV movie | |
| 1983 | Les poneys sauvages | Unknown | TV miniseries |
| 1983, 1992 | Les Cinq Dernières Minutes | Haltman / Hafner | 2 episodes |
| 1987, 1989 | William Tell | Tyroll / Tyrrol | 2 episodes |
| 1988 | M'as-tu-vu ? | Unknown | 1 episode |
| 1990 | Counterstrike | Kurtz | Episode: "The Lady of the Rhine" |
| Cantara | Unknown | TV miniseries | |
| 1991 | Navarro | Sauveur | 1 episode |
| Un privé au soleil | Unknown | 1 episode | |
| Renseignements généraux | Baltar | 1 episode | |
| 1992 | The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes | Hebworth (Alias Veitch) | 1 episode |
| The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | German Officer #2 | 1 episode | |
| Sniper 2: L'affaire Petracci | Bababoum | TV movie | |
| Lycée alpin | Unknown | Unknown | |
| The New Statesman | Herr Wessel | 1 episode | |
| 1993 | La grande collection: Senso | Le général Hautmann | TV movie |
| Le JAP, juge d'application des peines | Pol Van Hesse | 1 episode | |
| 1995 | Machinations | Unknown | TV movie |
| La Rivière Espérance | Commandant du Duguay-Trouin | TV miniseries | |
| 1997 | Inspecteur Moretti | Le Vieux | 1 episode |
| 2007 | How Much We Hated Each Other | Konrad Adenauer | TV movie |
| 2008 | Collection Fred Vargas | Fulgence | 2 episodes |