Kurt Kreuger

Kreuger was born in Michenberg, Germany, but raised in St Moritz, Switzerland. His father disapproved of his son's wanderlust and interest in acting. Kreuger attended the University of London's School of Economics for a short time and then transferred to Columbia University in New York. When he dropped out, his allowance was cut off. In 1939 he took a job as a travel agent and enrolled with the Provincetown Players on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. He became a US citizen in 1944. In 1941 he landed a small part in "Candle in the Wind" on Broadway, starring Helen Hayes. He understudied one of the lead roles. He made his film debut in a small role in Edge of Darkness (1943), a war film about the Nazis in Norway starring Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn. He had a bit part in Action in the North Atlantic (1943), another war film, starring Humphrey Bogart. In 1943, he played another role in Sahara (1943) as the German pilot Captain von Schletow alongside Humphrey Bogart. Feeling he was becoming typecast as a Nazi, after a quarrel with his studio he walked out on his contract and traveled to Germany, playing leading roles in several movies, something that always eluded him in Hollywood. After an automobile accident in 1955, he returned to the US. Kurt had a lot of on-screen time in The Enemy Below (1957) with Curd Jürgens and Robert Mitchum. Kreuger was the Number 3 man on the U-boat. One severe disappointment came when Marlon Brando was cast in the role in The Young Lions (1958) that Kreuger wanted badly. His last film was The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967). He then retired to split his time between homes in Beverly Hills and Aspen, Colorado. He invested his film money into luxury homes, renovating or renting them to other celebrities. This kept him living comfortably until his death in 2006, 11 days before his 90th birthday.