John Wengraf
Acting
Born 1897-04-22
Died 1974-05-04
Vienna, Austria-Hungary, now Austria
67 credits
Read biography
Emigrating to England in 1933 as the Nazis began their rise to power, Wengraf appeared unbilled in a couple of films there, as well as in some of the first BBC live-television shows ever presented but his career began to languish. In late 1941, however, he had the good fortune of appearing on Broadway with Helen Hayes in "Candle in the Wind" and decided to stay. The following year he headed west and settled permanently in the Los Angeles area. A dark, cold-eyed, thin-lipped player with a precise, meticulous air about him, he found himself invariably playing the very characters he detested. Some of his more nefarious nasties surfaced in such films as the Humphrey Bogart classic Sahara (1943/I), as well as The Boy from Stalingrad (1943), U-Boat Prisoner (1944) and Till We Meet Again (1944). In postwar years, he was often spotted portraying ethnic professionals (scientists, doctors, professors, foreign royalty). Some of the more quality pictures he enhanced were Tomorrow Is Forever (1946); Count Von Papen in 5 Fingers (1952); and Ronchin in the Ethel Merman musical Call Me Madam (1953). Although Wengraf never made it to the very top of the Hollywood character ranks, he remained a throughly strong and reliable player. In the 1950s and 1960s he transferred his talents to TV, appearing on a number of dramatic showcases and on such popular programs as "The Untouchables" (1959), "Hawaiian Eye" (1959), "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964) and "The Time Tunnel" (1966). His last few films included minor roles in the war-themed Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Hitler (1962) and Ship of Fools (1965). He retired in 1966, and died in Santa Barbara, California, at age 77, on May 4, 1974.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 67
Matinee Theater
Four Star Playhouse
Bat Masterson
Telephone Time
One Step Beyond
Hawaiian Eye
77 Sunset Strip
The Danny Thomas Show
The Detectives
The Time Tunnel
The Millionaire
The Rogues
Cavalcade of America
Bourbon Street Beat
Dangerous Assignment
The Third Man
Lux Video Theatre
You Are There
Judgment at Nuremberg
The Walter Winchell File
Jericho
Behind Closed Doors
Sailors Three
Panic!
The Razor's Edge
Ship of Fools
Sahara
The Prize
Convoy
The Pride and the Passion
5 Fingers
Tomorrow Is Forever
Never Say Goodbye
Valerie
T-Men
General Electric Theater
Hell and High Water
Night Train to Munich
The Desert Rats
Wake of the Red Witch
The Seventh Cross
The Return of Dracula
Portrait in Black
The Gambler from Natchez
The Racers
Lucky Jordan
Mission to Moscow
Gog
The French Line
The Disembodied
Hitler
Strange Affair
U-Boat Prisoner
Week-End at the Waldorf
Oh, Men! Oh, Women!
Sealed Verdict
Till We Meet Again
Tropic Zone
The Lovable Cheat
Paris Playboys
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