Eric Pohlmann
| Eric Pohlmann | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Erich Pollak 18 July 1913 Vienna, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 25 July 1979 (aged 66) Bad Reichenhall, Upper Bavaria, Germany |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Years active | 1948–79 |
| Spouse(s) | Liselotte Goettinger (1939–1968; her death; 2 children) |
Eric Pohlmann (German: Erich Pohlmann; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in Britain.
Born Erich Pollak in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was a classically trained actor who studied under the renowned director Max Reinhardt. He appeared at the Raimund Theater, and supplemented his income by working as an entertainer in a bar.
In 1939, he followed his fiancée and later wife, Jewish actress Lieselotte Goettinger (best known in the UK for playing the concentration camp guard in the war films, Odette and Carve Her Name With Pride), into exile in London. There he took part in propaganda broadcasts against the Nazis on the BBC. In order to earn a living, the Pohlmanns temporarily took positions in the household of the Duke of Bedford, Lieselotte as a cook and Eric, as he was now known, as butler.
After the war, he began a career on the London stage. Among other roles he played "Peachum" in Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera. From the end of the 1940s, Pohlmann was often present in film and television productions, taking supporting roles in various adventure and crime films, and appearing occasionally in comedies. His large frame and massive features typecast him in roles as master criminals and spies, or conversely as police officers or detectives, as well as other authority figures. He was frequently cast in "foreign" roles, portraying Turks, Italians, Arabs, Greeks or Orientals; he also played King George I, King George II in Disney's Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue and King George III twice.
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