Wolfgang Kieling
{{Short description|German actor (1924–1985)}}
{{Expand German|topic=bio|Wolfgang Kieling|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wolfgang Kieling
| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-G0320-0029-001, Berlin, Vietnam-Ausstellung, Besuch Kieling.jpg
| caption = Wolfgang Kieling (and his daughter), 20 March 1968
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|3|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Berlin, Germany
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|10|7|1924|3|16|df=y}}
| death_place = Hamburg, West Germany
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 1936–1985
| spouse = Jola Jobst (1950–1952) (her death)
Gisela Uhlen (1952–1957) (divorced) (1 child)
Monika Gabriel (1969–1975) (divorced)[https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10182-195558/wolfgang-kieling-in-biographical-summaries-of-notable-people Wolfgang Kieling biography] myheritage.com
}}
Wolfgang Kieling (16 March 1924 – 7 October 1985) was a German actor.
Biography
In films since childhood in his native Germany, Kieling appeared in a few American films, notably in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966), where he played Gromek, an East German agent brutally slain by Paul Newman's character. He also played Gromek's brother in a scene that was deleted from the final print.Rawle, Steven & Donnelly, K. J. Partners in Suspense: Critical Essays on Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Hitchcock Oxford University Press, 2017
Kieling had a small role in $ (aka, The Heist, 1971), starring Warren Beatty. In a British film, Amsterdam Affair (1968), he portrayed the fictional Dutch detective Van der Valk several years before Barry Foster (another Hitchcock alumnus) was cast in the same role for the British TV series. He did much work on West German TV, including the first episode of Derrick ({{ill|Waldweg (Derrick)|de|3=Derrick: Waldweg|lt="Waldweg"}}, 1974). The best of his later roles was in the film Out of Order (1984), originally titled Abwärts.
Early on, Kieling also became a dubbing actor for West German dubs of foreign films, serving as the standard dubbing voice of Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra (in his 1950s films), and he also dubbed Charlton Heston in the first part of the Planet of the Apes franchise. In Disneys Alice in Wonderland, he dubbed the Mad Hatter. Thanks to his voice's similarity to that of Gert Günther Hoffmann, he would also replace Hoffmann as the dubbing voice of Paul Newman when Hoffmann was not available. On TV, he was especially known as the German voice of Bert (see Bert and Ernie) from Sesame Street up until his death in 1985.
During World War II, Kieling was conscripted into the German Army in 1942, where he was severely wounded and captured in 1945. He was held in a Russian POW camp until 1949,[https://www.filmportal.de/en/person/wolfgang-kieling_efc0caa3ef2903c1e03053d50b372d46 Wolfgang Kieling: Cast, Assistant director] filmportal.de. Retrieved March 28, 2024. during which he organized plays at various prison camps.
In October 1952, his wife Jola Jobst (ex-wife of German Luftwaffe ace Hermann Graf), whom he had married in 1950, committed suicide.Bergström, Christer; Antipov, Vlad, and Sundi, Claes (2003). Graf & Grislawski—A Pair of Aces. Hamilton MT: Eagle Editions Ltd. {{ISBN|0-9721060-4-9}}., p.269
In March 1968, he moved from West Germany to East Germany because of West German support for the United States, which he became disillusioned with after witnessing the Watts riots firsthand during the filming of Torn Curtain. After defecting, he called the United States "the most dangerous enemy of humanity in the world today" with its "crimes against the Negro and the people of Vietnam".{{cite book|last=Kurlansky|first=Mark|title=1968 The year that rocked the world|publisher=Vintage|year=2005|isbn=978-0099-429623|pages=147–8}} He eventually returned to West Germany in 1970.
Selected filmography
=Child actor=
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Die lustigen Weiber (1936) - Bit Part (uncredited)
- Maria the Maid (1936) - Christoph - Marias little brother
- Die Kreutzersonate (1937) - Wassja
- Heimweh (1937) - Robby, Sohn des Bankpräsidenten
- Women for Golden Hill (1938) - Pat
- {{ill|Altes Herz geht auf die Reise|de|Altes Herz geht auf die Reise (1938)}} (1938, released 1947) - Der Solist im Schulchor
- The Journey to Tilsit (1939) - Klein Franz
- Seitensprünge (1940) - Hotelboy
- Falstaff in Vienna (1940) - Loisl - Lehrling bei Meister Sturm
- Herz geht vor Anker (1940) - Schiffsjunge
- Somewhere in Berlin (1941) - Bürolehrling bei Dr. Horn
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Jenny und der Herr im Frack|de}} (1941) - Hotelpage im "Tivoli" (uncredited)
{{div col end}}
=Actor=
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Genesung (1956) - Friedel Walter
- Damals in Paris (1956) - René
- Duped Till Doomsday (1957) - Gefreiter Lick
- The Man Who Couldn't Say No (1958) - Untersuchungsrichter
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Arzt ohne Gewissen|de}} (1959) - Dr. Stein
- Agatha, Stop That Murdering! (1960) - Philip
- {{Ill|Lysistrata (1961 film)|de|3=Die Sendung der Lysistrata|lt=Lysistrata}} (1961) - Dr. Salbach
- The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi (1961) - Narrator (voice, uncredited)
- The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1961) - Dimanche
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Mörderspiel|de}} (1961) - Kriminalinspektor Arnold
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Heute kündigt mir mein Mann|de}} (1963) - Schwarzkopf
- Time of the Innocent (1964)
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Polizeirevier Davidswache|de}} (1964) - Hauptwachtmeister Glantz
- {{Ill|The Physicists (1964 film)|de|3=Die Physiker (Film)|lt=The Physicists}} (1964, TV film) - Möbius
- The House in Karp Lane (1965) - Karl Marek
- Hotel der toten Gäste (1965) - Jack Courtney
- The Bandits of the Rio Grande (1965) - Barran
- Our Man in Jamaica (1965) - Elmer Hayes / Nick
- Duel at Sundown (1965) - Punch
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Congress of Love|de|Der Kongreß amüsiert sich}} (1966) - Napoleon's double
- Torn Curtain (1966) - Hermann Gromek
- {{ill|S.O.S. – Morro Castle|de}} (1966, TV film) - George Rogers
- Hotel Clausewitz (1967) - Stemmka
- The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) - Dr. Lieberson
- Dead Run (1967) - Wolfgang
- The House of 1,000 Dolls (1967) - Inspector Emil
- Operazione San Pietro (1967) - Poulain
- Im Banne des Unheimlichen (1968) - Sir Cecil
- Tevye and His Seven Daughters (1968) - Poperilli
- Amsterdam Affair (1968) - Van Der Valk
- Das siebente Jahr (1969) - Günter Heim
- Jungfer, Sie gefällt mir (1969) - Adam
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Aus unserer Zeit|de}} (1970) - Böttcher (segment "Das Duell")
- Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment (1971) - Godoy
- $ (1971) - Granich
- Tatort: {{Ill|Strandgut (Tatort)|de|3=Tatort: Strandgut|lt=Strandgut}} (1972, TV series episode) - Dr. Rudolf Kühne
- Sonderdezernat K1: Vier Schüsse auf den Mörder (1972, TV series episode) - Siegfried Kalweit
- {{Interlanguage link multi|The Death Avenger of Soho|de|Der Todesrächer von Soho}} (1972) - Ferencz
- {{Ill|Bremen Freedom|de|Bremer Freiheit}} (1972, TV film) - Mr. Timm
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben|de|3=Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben (Film)|lt=Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben}} (1973, TV miniseries) - Gebhardt
- {{ill|Im Reservat|de}} (1973, TV film) - Alfred Bergmann
- Vreemde Wêreld (1974) - Iwan Elzer
- Derrick: {{ill|Waldweg (Derrick)|de|3=Derrick: Waldweg|lt=Waldweg}} (1974, TV series episode) - Rudolf Manger
- {{ill|Härte 10|de}} (1974, TV miniseries) - Martin Melchior
- {{ill|Bei Westwind hört man keinen Schuß|de}} (1976, TV film) - Anselm Kiwitt
- {{Ill|Die Kette|de|Die Kette (1977)}} (1977, TV film) - Heaton
- Der Geist der Mirabelle (1978, TV film) - Harms
- {{Interlanguage link multi|The Fall (1979 film)|de|3=Der Sturz (Film)|lt=The Fall}} (1979) - Edmund Gabriel
- Die Stühle des Herrn Szmil (1979, TV film) - Kasch
- Tatort: Schweigegeld (1979, TV series episode) - Helmuth Klaven
- A Guru Comes (1980, TV film) - Lawyer / Narrator
- Exil (1981, TV miniseries) - Gingold
- {{Interlanguage link multi|Der König und sein Narr|de|3=Der König und sein Narr (Film)}} (1981, TV film) - Prof. Jacob Paul von Gundling
- {{ill|Der Spot oder Fast eine Karriere|de}} (1981, TV film) - Ingelmann
- {{ill|The Oppermanns (film)|de|3=Die Geschwister Oppermann (Film)|lt=The Oppermanns}} (1983, TV film) - Martin Oppermann
- The Old Fox: Der vierte Mann (1983, TV series episode) - Helmut Schäffert
- Solo Run (1983, TV film) - Carow
- The Heart of the Matter (1983, TV film) - Yusef
- Man Under Suspicion (1984) - Reporter 'Watergate'
- Out of Order (1984) - Gössmann
- The Old Fox: Der Klassenkamerad (1984, TV series episode) - Walter Nolle
- Patrik Pacard (1984, TV miniseries) - Professor Olaf Gunström
- Der Schiedsrichter (1985, TV film) - Karl Bisst
- {{ill|Non-Stop Trouble with the Family|de|Didi und die Rache der Enterbten}} (1985) - Notar Prätorius
- The Black Forest Clinic (1985–1986, TV series, 4 episodes) - Dr. Ignaz Marker
{{div col end}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
- {{IMDb name|0452471}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kieling, Wolfgang}}
Category:20th-century German male actors
Category:Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery
Category:German Army personnel of World War II
Category:German expatriate male actors in the United States
Category:German Film Award winners
Category:German male child actors
Category:German male film actors
Category:German male television actors
Category:German prisoners of war in World War II