Gert Fröbe Biography

Fast Facts

• Recipient of an Honorary Award at the 1978 German Film Awards for his contributions to German film
• Winner of a Golden Camera in 1984 as Best German Actor for "August der Starke" and "Der Garten․"
• Recipient of the Prize San Sebastian at the 1961 San Sebastian International Film Festival as Best Actor for "Crook and the Cross․"
• Winner of the Ernst Lubitsch Award in 1961 for "Crook and the Cross․"
• Won the German Film Critics Award at the 1959 German Film Critics Association Awards as Best Actor for "It Happened in Broad Daylight․"
• Was initially a classical violinist, but abandoned that for a dramatic career
• Quote: "I am a big man, and I have a laugh to match my size․ The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain - a man without laughs․"
• Perhaps best known for his roles as Auric Goldfinger in "Goldfinger," Peachum in "The Threepenny Opera" and Baron Bomburst in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang․"
• Although he was a member of the Nazi party in Germany during World War II, he used his status to hide Jews and smuggle them out of Germany
• Due to his thick German accent, his voice was dubbed in English in the film "Goldfinger․"
• Due to his past membership in the Nazi party, "Goldfinger" had been banned in Israel until a Jewish family publicly thanked him for helping them escape Germany
• Is pictured on a 3 DM commemorative postage stamp by the German post