
Karl Stepanek
Though born in Czechoslovakia, actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany (as Karl Stepanek) in the years before World War II. Stepanek fled to England in 1940, where, like many European refugee actors, he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains. He tried to stay away from out-and-out Nazi roles, but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepanek's screen characters. One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama, The Captive Heart; Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol (1949). Commuting between London and Hollywood, Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II, usually on the wrong side, into such '60s films as Sink the Bismarck! (1960), I Aim at the Stars (1960) and Operation Crossbow (1965).
74 acting credits
Acting · 74

No Hiding Place
1959

Das Kriminalmuseum
1963

The Third Man
1949
Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!
1957

Armchair Theatre
1956

The Heroes of Telemark
1965

Sink the Bismarck!
1960

Operation Crossbow
1965

The Fallen Idol
1948

Anastasia
1956

The Cockleshell Heroes
1955

Our Man in Havana
1960

State Secret
1950

No Highway in the Sky
1951

Affair in Trinidad
1952

Operation Amsterdam
1959

Brainwashed
1960

Conspirator
1949

The Captive Heart
1946

The Games
1970

City Beneath the Sea
1953

Devil Doll
1964

They Met in the Dark
1943

Never Let Me Go
1953

Murderers Club of Brooklyn
1967

Walk East on Beacon
1952

Broken Journey
1948

Before Winter Comes
1969

Secret Venture
1955

Cairo Road
1950

Rough Shoot
1953

Counterblast
1948

The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway
2003

Waltz War
1933

Man of the Moment
1955

Tomorrow We Live
1943

A Prize of Gold
1955

The File of the Golden Goose
1969

Secret Mission
1942

Dangerous Cargo
1954

Escape to Danger
1943

Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf
1931

The Traitor
1957

Sperrbezirk
1966

Give Us This Day
1949

Hotel Sacher
1939

The Man in the Road
1956

Golden Arrow
1949

Here's Berlin
1932

The Frozen Dead
1966

Alles Schwindel
1940
Hermine and the Seven Upright Men
1935

The Unknown
1936

The Third Visitor
1951

Tale of Three Women
1954

Three Fathers for Anna
1939

Five from the Jazzband
1932
Aufstand der Gehorsamen
1963

Stronger Than Paragraphs
1936

The Grey Pikes Wharf
1935

A Song for You
1933

Licensed to Kill
1965

The Leghorn Hat
1939
Klatovští dragouni
1938

Our Film
1942

Another Experience
1939

Spione im Savoy-Hotel
1932

The Bat
1937

West of Suez
1957

War es der im 3. Stock?
1939

Na růžích ustláno
1935

Pozdní láska
1935

Narren im Schnee
1938

Der Außenseiter
1935