Born in Nuremberg on February 27, 1910, the son of a school teacher, well-known German actor Wolfgang Preiss started studying philsophy and theatre sciences alternately . In his twilight years he turned more and more to TV, his last appearance being in 1997. He was part of the ensemble cast of "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" in the 80s Married three times, Preiss died at the age of 92 as the result of a fall.
Born at 3:45am-CET
German actor who typically played Nazi menacers in WWII films and starred as criminal mastermind Dr. Mabuse in a number of post-war films, appearing in over 100 pictures during his long career.
He played four World War II German Field Marshals: Albert Kesselring in Lo sbarco di Anzio , Erwin Rommel in Raid on Rommel , Gerd von Rundstedt in A Bridge Too Far and Walter von Brauchitsch in "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" . In "Ike" he is listed as playing Field Marshal Alfred Jodl, but Jodl was never promoted to that rank.
He appeared in two films which depicted the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944: The Longest Day and La legione dei dannati . Curd Jrgens also appeared in both films.
Along with Sean Connery , he is one of only two actors to appear in both films based on books by Cornelius Ryan : The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far .
Grandfather of Laura Preiss.
He was exempted from military service during World War II.
