Curd Jürgens

Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 1915 – 18 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.

Early life

Jürgens was born on 13 December 1915 in the Munich borough of Solln, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire. His father, Kurt, was a trader from Hamburg, and his mother, Marie-Albertine, was a French teacher. He began his working career as a journalist before becoming an actor at the urging of his actress wife, Louise Basler. He spent much of his early acting career on the stage in Vienna.

Jürgens was critical of National Socialism in his native Germany. In 1944, he was sent to an internment camp in Hungary as a "political unreliable".

Jürgens became an Austrian citizen after the war.

Career

Like many multilingual German-speaking actors, Jürgens went on to play soldiers in innumerable war films. Notable performances in this vein include a meditative officer in the epic The Longest Day. His breakthrough screen role came in Des Teufels General (1955, The Devil's General) and he came to Hollywood following his appearance in the sensational 1956 Roger Vadim directed French film Et Dieu... créa la femme (And God Created Woman) starring Brigitte Bardot. In 1957, Jürgens made his first Hollywood film, The Enemy Below, where he portrayed a German U-boat commander. Jürgens became an international film star. He eventually gained the role of the villain in Roger Moore's favourite James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, as Karl Stromberg, a sociopathic industrialist seeking to transform the world into an ocean paradise. His last film appearance was as Maître Legraine, beside Alain Delon and Claude Jade in the spy-thriller Teheran 43 in 1981. He played Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in several episodes of the 1974 BBC TV series Fall of Eagles. He appeared as General Vladimir in the BBC TV series Smiley's People in 1982.

Although he appeared in over 100 films, Jürgens considered himself primarily a stage actor. His last stage appearance was with the Vienna State Opera on 9 March 1981 as Bassa Selim in Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He also directed a few films with limited success, and wrote screenplays.

Showing his sense of humour, he titled his 1976 autobiography … und kein bißchen weise (And not a Bit Wise).

Personal life

Jürgens maintained a home in France, but frequently returned to Vienna to perform on stage and that was where he died of a heart attack on 18 June 1982. He was interred in the city's Zentralfriedhof. Jürgens had suffered a heart attack several years before. During this he had a near-death experience where he claimed he died and went to Hell.

He was a tall man, standing 1.92 metres (6 ft 4 in) tall. Brigitte Bardot nicknamed him "the Norman Wardrobe" during their work for Et Dieu… créa la femme.

Jürgens was married to:

1. Lulu Basler, actress (15 June 1937 – 8 October 1947) (divorced)
2. Judith Holzmeister (16 October 1947–1955) (divorced)
3. Eva Bartok (13 August 1955–1957) (divorced)
4. Simone Bicheron (14 September 1958–1977) (divorced)
5. Margie Schmitz (21 March 1978 – 18 June 1982) (till his death)

Partial filmography

• Königswalzer (Germany), Jürgens' first film (1935)
• Wen die Götter lieben (Germany) (1942)
• Women Are No Angels (1943)
• Wiener Mädeln (Germany) (1944)
• Der Engel mit der Posaune (Germany) (1948)
• Der Schuß durchs Fenster (1950)
• 1. April 2000 (1952)
• The Confession of Ina Kahr (1954)
• Orient-Express (1954)
• Des Teufels General (1955)
• Die Ratten (1955)
• Heroes and Sinners (it) (1955)
• And God Created Woman (1956)
• Michel Strogoff (1956)
• Bitter Victory (1957)
• The Enemy Below (1957)
• Les Espions (1957)
• Tamango (1958)
• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)
• Me and the Colonel (1958)
• This Happy Feeling (1958)
• Der Schinderhannes (1958)
• Magnificent Sinner (1959)
• Ferry to Hong Kong (1959)
• The Blue Angel (1959)
• Brainwashed (1960)
• I Aim at the Stars (1960)
• Bankraub in der Rue Latour (1961)
• The Longest Day (1962)
• I Don Giovanni della Costa Azzurra (1962)

• Die Dreigroschenoper (de) (1962)
• Of Love and Desire (1963)
• Miracle of the White Stallions (1963)
• Hide and Seek (1964)
• Psyche 59 (1964)
• Lord Jim (1965)
• Who Wants to Sleep? (1965)
• Target for Killing (1966)
• Dirty Heroes (1967)
• The Karate Killers (1967)
• Der Lügner und die Nonne (de) (1967)
• Battle of Britain (1969)
• The Assassination Bureau (1969)
• Battle of Neretva (1969)
• The Invincible Six (1970)
• Cannabis (1970)
• The Mephisto Waltz (1971)
• Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
• Der Kommissar (TV) (1973)
• The Vault of Horror (1974)
• Fall of Eagles (BBC TV) (1974)
• Derrick – Season 2, episode 4: "Madeira" (1975)
• Cagliostro (1975)
• The Twist (1976)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo (1978)
• Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Incident (1978) (also known as Teheran Incident and Cruise Missile)
• Teheran 43 (1981)
• Smiley's People (BBC TV) (1982)