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Hardy Kruger was born Eberhard August Franz Ewald Krüger in Wedding, Berlin, the son of Auguste (Meier) and Max Krüger. At thirteen years, he became a member of the "Hitler Jugend" (Hitler Youth), as did all 13-year-old boys in Germany then. The purpose of the organization was to prepare the boys for military service. At age 15, Hardy made his film debut in a German picture (Junge Adler (1944)), but his acting career was interrupted when he was drafted into the German army in 1944 at age 16 and posted to an infantry regiment.
Years later, Hardy related how he "hated that [Nazi] uniform." During the filming of A Bridge Too Far (1977) in which he portrayed a Nazi general, he wore a top-coat over his S.S. uniform between takes so as "not to remind myself of my childhood in Germany during W.W.II." It is said that, during his war years, Hardy was captured and taken prisoner by U.S. forces but attempted to escape thrice, the third time successfully.
After the war, Hardy returned to acting and, eight years later, was "discovered" by foreign film distributor J. Arthur Rank who promptly cast him in three British pictures, practically filmed back-to-back: The One That Got Away (1957), Bachelor of Hearts (1958) and Chance Meeting (1959), in which he appeared simply as a foreigner and not a German, as was usually the case. Following the release of these films, Hardy's career took off. Despite anti-German sentiment that still prevailed in postwar Europe, Hardy, described as "ruggedly handsome" and a "blond heartthrob," became an international favorite, paving the way to his first American role as co-star with John Wayne in the Tanganyika-shot wildlife adventure Hatari! (1962).
Hardy was so taken aback by the beauty of the land, that he bought the film's location ("Momilla Farm") and built a small home for himself and a small bungalow hotel for tourists to see the animals. Hunting was forbidden on the property, and, later, a cattle farm was started with the meat being sold to local hotels. Hardy described his home there as "a sort of African Walden where I can get away from the world from time to time."
In 1979, due to the dissolution of the alliance of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika), the border with Kenya was closed and remained so for half a decade which caused a serious decline in tourism. The business aspects of his property were shut down for a period of time, but eventually things picked up and the place was transformed into a proper tourist hotel known (fittingly) as Hatari Lodge.
Fluent in English, French. and German, Hardy found himself in much demand by British, French, American and German producers and became more selective in his scripts. "I'd rather sit out a picture than take a role I don't think is right for me" he would later say. He died in January 2022 in Palm Springs, California, 11 years after his last film credit.- Actress
Blonde, blue-eyed Karin Baal was born as Karin Blauermel in Berlin. She grew up fatherless, raised by her mother who toiled as a seamstress and factory worker. After completing secondary school at age sixteen, Karin commenced training as a fashion illustrator. By pure chance, she learned that the director Georg Tressler was in the process of casting for a 'Marina Vlady'-type as the female lead for his new film Teenage Wolfpack (1956). Without any formal acting training whatsoever, Karin passed her audition and was selected for the coveted role as one among 700 other hopefuls. Due to her lack of experience, she was dubbed by Brigitte Grothum.
In 1959, Karin completed her acting and voice training under Luise Berger and Ilse Bonger. This opened up roles for her in the theatre. In the course of succeeding decades, she appeared regularly on stages in Berlin, Munich and Zurich. The high point of her performing career were successful tours in plays by Heinrich Böll ('Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum'), Jean-Paul Sartre and Francis Durbridge.
On screen, Karin's role in Teenage Wolfpack set the tone for her subsequent gallery of young rebels, delinquents and temptresses in films like Judge and Juvenile (1960), Die junge Sünderin (1960) (which garnered her a 1960 Bambi as Best Upcoming Actress) and Rosemary (1958). Conversely, she also portrayed 'damsels in distress' in the Edgar Wallace potboilers Dead Eyes of London (1961) and The Horror of Blackwood Castle (1968).
By the 70s, Karin had begun to work increasingly in television. Many of her guest appearances were supporting roles in 'Krimis' (crime shows), like Der Kommissar (1969), Sonderdezernat K1 (1972), Derrick (1974), The Old Fox (1977) and Tatort (1970). She also featured in a trio of Rainer Werner Fassbinder productions: Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) (as the niece of Franz Biberkopf, played by Günter Lamprecht), as a resistance fighter in Lili Marleen (1981) and as the mother of madam Lola (1981) (Barbara Sukowa).
Karin's final screen appearance was in 2011. A year later, she published her memoirs under the title Ungezähmt - Mein Leben. In it, she has recounted her tormented personal life, including four failed marriages, problems with depression, alcohol and cocaine addiction and frequent resulting trips to rehab clinics.
By 2016, and on the road to recovery, she confirmed her retirement from acting, saying that everything (in show biz) today felt 'too impersonal' and 'machine-like'. Karin Baal has latterly resided in Berlin-Charlottenburg, subsisting on a modest pension. In 2018, she was honoured with the inaugural Götz-George-Prize for her lifetime contribution to film.- Martin Held was a leading German film actor of the 1950's and 60's. He attended school in Berlin and then worked for a while as a technician at Siemens. In 1929, he received a stipend to train for acting at the Berlin University of the Arts, graduating in 1931. He then performed at most of the leading theatres in Germany, often in classical roles. In 1951, he was discovered by the director Alfred Weidenmann for the screen. Critical success in Deadly Decision (1954) (as Heydrich) led to further starring roles. An incisive, dominant personality with a somewhat brooding, mysterious air, he was frequently cast as anti-heroes, schemers and swindlers, men with a dark past or shallow bon vivants. He could also personify integrity (his mayor in The Captain from Köpenick (1956)), but was not generally called upon to play romantic leads. Perhaps against type, he starred in the military comedy Fast ein Held (1967), as a German NCO in a fictitious village in occupied France, who unwittingly becomes town commandant (ironically, to the betterment of the locals). His performance won him the Ernst Lubitsch Preis for best comedy performance. Held also had a powerful baritone voice which he used to good effect on radio and for dubbing such Hollywood tough guys as E.G. Marshall, George Macready and Neville Brand.
