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Hans Meyer (actor)

{{Short description|French actor (1925–2020)}}

{{sources|date=July 2014}}

Hans Meyer (21 July 1925 – 3 April 2020) was a French actor. In Britain, he was known for his portrayal of Hauptmann Franz Ulmann in the television series Colditz (1972–1974).

Early life and education

Meyer was born to German parents{{cn|date=May 2023}} in Paulpietersburg, Natal Province, Union of South Africa in July 1925. He worked initially as a model where he posed for book covers until a friend in Germany working for an advertising agency lined up his first work as an actor, a television advert for Puschkin Vodka. The brand became Germany's best-selling vodka and Meyer became known as "Frank S. Thorn, the Puschkin Man".

Career

Meyer was hired by Anatole Litvak as an extra for his film The Night of the Generals (1967). He went on the play supporting roles in French films alongside French cinema stars such as Lino Ventura, Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. In 1966, he was engaged for La grande vadrouille, where he embodied an angry SS representative. In 1968 he played in the action thriller The Devil's Garden by Yves Boisset. In 1969, he took on the role of Sheriff Blade in the thriller Les Étrangers, shot in Spain. In 1970 he played in the Western Cannon for Cordoba, in the role of the Swedish major Svedborg, the leader of a private mercenary army. In 1975 he had a small role in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Barry Lyndon.

In the 1970s, Meyer also worked for television. He played a continuous series role in the British television series Colditz. In 1978, he appeared in the mini-series Holocaust - The History of the Weiss Family; in it, he played the SS official Ernst Kaltenbrunner. In the TV movie The Girlfriend from Childhood (L'amie d'enfance, 1981) from the Commissaire Moulin- series, he played the assassin, whom Yves Rénier and title heroine Claude Jade ultimately put to the test. He then appeared in other television series. He later appeared in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as well as the French cult movie Brotherhood of the Wolf.{{cite book|last=Willis|first=John|title=Screen World 2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLQcr-jXxYsC&pg=PA237|accessdate=23 November 2015|year=2004|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=9781557835284|page=237}}

Death

Meyer died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France on 3 April 2020 at the age of 94.[http://hansmeyer.info/biography.html Hans Meyer: Biography]{{Cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/hans-meyer-dead-south-africa-21847814|title=Actor Hans Meyer who starred in Colditz & Red Sonja dies at 94|website=Daily Mirror |date=10 April 2020}}

Films and television

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References

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External links

  • {{IMDb name|0583141|Hans Meyer}}
  • [http://www.hansmeyer.info/ hansmeyer.info] The official Hans Meyer website

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Category:1925 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:French male film actors

Category:French male television actors

Category:French people of German descent

Category:People from eDumbe Local Municipality

Category:South African emigrants to France

Category:South African expatriates in Germany

Category:White South African people