Some, though not all, of the characters in the film have different names from their historical counterparts. For example, Colonel Franz Ritter (
George C. Scott) was Colonel Fritz Erdmann in real life; the Countess (
Anne Bancroft) was actually Margaret Mather; Martin Vogel (
Roy Thinnes) represents Karl Otto Clemens; Captain Fellows (
Stephen Elliott) is based on U.S. Navy airship commander Charles Rosendahl; Karl Borth (
William Atherton) was named Eric Spehl in real life; his mistress, Freda Halle (
Lisa Pera) was Beatrice Friedrich; Mr. and Mrs. Reed Channing (
Peter Donat and
Joanna Moore) were Leonhard and Gertrud Adelt; the Breslau family (
Alan Oppenheimer,
Katherine Helmond,
Jean Rasey,
Johnny Lee and
Stephen Manley) was actually the Doehnerr family; Dimmler (
Rex Holman), while there was an engineering officer by that name, is shown stationed in the main control gondola and likely represents either Captain Albert Sammt or Captain Anton Wittemann. Captain Ernst Lehmann, Captain Max Pruss, Joseph Spah, Edward Douglas, Ludwig Knorr, Hugo Eckener and Joseph Goebbels are among those who were called by their real historical names in the film.
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