Martin Kosleck

Martin Kosleck (March 24, 1904 (Barkotzen, Germany) – January 15, 1994 (Santa Monica, California)) was a German character actor of Russian descent who would appear in several American films and television shows, playing mostly Nazis, including five times playing Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister. Kosleck would begin his acting on the pre-war Berlin stage, working for Max Reinhardt. Because of his anti-Nazi views, he would leave Germany in the early 1930s, just ahead of a Gestapo death squad, later learning that he was tried in absentia and sentenced to death. He would move first to Britain, then to the U.S., where he would first work on the stage before receiving, because of his icy demeanor and piercing stare which would help to epitomize on screen the kind of blind obedience to Hitler that everyone would grow to hate, his big break in the 1939 film, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, where he would perform his first portrayal of Goebbels. After that film, he would spend most of his film career protraying, besides Goebbels, German army officers, SS troopers, and concentration camp officers, as well as spies, agents and psychopaths. Unlike others, who feared being typecasted for playing such roles, he had no such compunctions because of his anti-Nazis views. He would appear in such films as Foreign Correspondent, The Mummy's Curse, House of Horrors, She-Wolf of London, The Beginning or the End, 36 Hours and Which Way to the Front?, and such television shows as The Hallmark Hall of Fame, Studio One, The Rifleman, The Outer Limits, Get Smart, It Takes a Thief, Night Gallery, Search and Love, American Style, including one episode of the 1960s sitcom, Hogan's Heroes, before being sidelined by a heart attack. His last screen appearance would be in the 1980 film, The Man with Bogart's Face.

Kosleck would die on January 15, 1994, in a convalescent home in Santa Monica, California, while recovering from abdominal surgery.

Filmography

 * The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)
 * Longstreet (1971) (TV)
 * Which Way to the Front? (1970)
 * Wake Me When the War Is Over (1969) (TV)
 * Agent from H.A.R.M. (1966)
 * Morituri (1965)
 * 36 Hours (1965)
 * The Flesh Eaters (1964)
 * Hitler (1962)
 * Something Wild (1961)
 * ''Spion für Deutschland (1956)
 * Smugglers' Cove (1948)
 * Assigned to Danger (1948)
 * Half Past Midnight (1948)
 * The Beginning or the End (1947) (uncredited)
 * She-Wolf of London (1946)
 * The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946)
 * House of Horrors (1946)
 * Just Before Dawn (1946)
 * Crime of the Century (1946)
 * The Spider (1945)
 * Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
 * Gangs of the Waterfront (1945)
 * The Frozen Ghost (1945)
 * Strange Holiday (1945)
 * The Mummy's Curse (1944)
 * Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944)
 * The Hitler Gang (1944)
 * The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944)
 * The North Star (1943)
 * Bomber's Moon (1943)
 * Chetniks (1943)
 * Manila Calling (1942)
 * Divide and Conquer (1942) (uncredited)
 * Berlin Correspondent (1942)
 * Nazi Agent (1942)
 * Fly-by-Night (1942)
 * All Through the Night (1941)
 * The Devil Pays Off (1941)
 * International Lady (1941)
 * Underground (1941)
 * The Mad Doctor (1941)
 * Foreign Correspondence (1940)
 * Calling Philo Vance (1940)
 * Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939)
 * Espionage Agent (1939)
 * Nurse Edith Cavell (1939)
 * Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) (uncredited)
 * Fashions of 1934 (1934) (uncredited)
 * Die Singende Stadt (1930)
 * Alraune (1930)
 * Napoleon auf St. Helena (1929)
 * Der Fahnenträger von Sedan (1927)

Notable TV Guest Appearances

 * The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries playing "First Citizen" in episode: "Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meets Dracula: Part 2" (episode # 2.2) 18 September 1977
 * Sanford and Son playing "General" in episode: "Sergeant Gork" (episode # 5.23) 12 March 1976
 * Banacek playing "Bruno Altrahidy" in episode: "The Three Million Dollars Piracy" (episode # 2.3) 21 November 1973
 * Love, American Style playing "Actor" in episode: "Love and the Cozy Comrades" (episode # 5.6a) 19 october 1973
 * Search playing "Josip Dijilas" in episode: "Live Men Tell Tales" (episode # 1.5) 11 October 1972
 * O'Hara, U.S. Treasury playing "Dr. Klaus Vogel" in episode: "Operation: Dorias" (episode # 1.18) 4 February 1972
 * Night Gallery playing "Hugo" in episode: "The Devil Is Not Mocked" (episode # 2.19) 27 October 1971
 * Hogan's Heroes playing "General Mueller" in episode: "The Gestapo Takeover" (epiosde # 6.6) 25 October 1970
 * Mission: Impossible playing "General" in episode: "The Bunker: Part 2" (episode # 3.20) 9 March 1969
 * The Wild Wild West playing "Igor" in episode: "The Night of the Diva" (episode # 4.20) 7 March 1969
 * Mission: Impossible playing "General" in episode: "The Bunker: Part 1" (episode # 3.19) 2 March 1969
 * It Takes a Thief playing "2nd Agent" in episode: "The Thingamabob Heist" (episode # 2.4) 15 October 1968
 * It Takes a Thief playing "Actor" in episode: "A Sour Note" (episode # 2.2) 1 )ctober 1968
 * The Wild Wild West playing "Count Hackman" in episode: "The Night of the Big Blackout" (episode # 4.1) 27 September 1968
 * Garrison's Gorillas playing "German General" in episode: "Time Bomb" (episode # 1.26) 12 March 1968
 * The F.B.I. playing "Paul Bohler" in episode: "Blueprint for Betrayal" (episode # 3.10) 3 December 1967
 * The Man from U.N.C.L.E. playing "Hotel Porter" in episode: "The Test Tube Killer Affair" (episode # 4.2) 18 September 1967
 * The Man from U.N.C.L.E. playing "Dr. Silas Neary" in episode: "The Cap and Gown Affair" (episode # 3.30) 14 April 1967
 * Batman playing "Prof. Charm" in episode: "A Riddling Controversy" (episode # 2.46) 9 February 1967
 * Batman playing "Prof. Charm" in episode: "Batman's Anniversary" (episode # 2.45) 8 February 1967
 * The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. playing "Otto" in episode: "The Drublegratz Affair" (episode # 1.19) 31 January 1967
 * The Man from U.N.C.L.E. playing "Dr. Pederson" in episode: "The Deadly Smorgasbord Affair" (episode # 3.18) 13 January 1967
 * The F.B.I. playing "Janos Dobrenko" in episode: "List for a Firing Squad" (episode # 2.13) 18 December 1966
 * Twelve O'Clock High playing "Col. Ulrich" in episode: "To Seek and Destroy" (episode # 3.12) 18 November 1966
 * The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. playing "Dr. Boorman" in episode: "The Horns-of-the-Dilemma Affair" (episode # 1.6) 18 October 1966
 * Get Smart playing "Dr. Drago" in episode: "Weekend Vampire" (episode # 1.14) 18 December 1965
 * Amos Burke, Secret Agent playing "Basalon" in episode: "Password to Death" (episode # 3.4) 6 October 1965
 * Kraft's Suspense Theatre playing "Rudi" in episode: "The Easter Breach" (episode # 2.25) 13 May 1965
 * The Rogues playing "Hugo Fischer" in episode: "Run for the Money" (episode # 1.22) 14 February 1965
 * The Outer Limits playing "Dr. Leo Hausner" in episode: "The Brain of Colonel Barham" (episode # 2.15) 2 January 1965
 * The Rogues playing "Actor" in episode: "The Computer Goes West" (episode # 1.13) 13 December 1964
 * Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea playing "Director" in episode: "The Fear-Makers" (episode # 1.3) 28 September 1964
 * The Rifleman playing "Joe Stanic" in episode: "Old Tony" (episode # 5.26) 8 April 1963
 * Saints and Sinners playing "Heinz Heller" in episode: "New Lead Berlin" (episode # 1.17) 28 January 1963
 * Thriller playing "Col. Andre Bertroux" in episode: "Waxworks" (episode # 2.16) 8 January 1962
 * Appointment with Adventure playing "Actor" in episode: "The Helping Hand" (episode # 2.3) 16 October 1955
 * Appointment with Adventure playing "Actor" in episode: "The Fateful Pilgrimage" (episode # 1.3) 17 April 1955
 * Treasury Men in Action playing "Smuggler" in episode: "The Case of the Waiting Diamond" (episode # 4.32) 1 April 1954
 * Suspense playing "Actor" in episode: "Torment" (episode # 6.27) 30 March 1954
 * Studio One playing "Popchenko" in episode: "The Expendables" (episode # 6.27) 22 March 1954
 * The Motorola Television Hour playing "Goebbels" in episode: "The Last Days of Hitler" (episode # 1.6) 12 January 1954
 * Robert Montgomery Presents playing "Capt. Krueger" in episode: "The Sheffield Story" (episode # 4.9) 27 October 1952
 * The Hallmark Hall of Fame playing "Actor" in episode: "I Lift Up My Lamp" 17 August 1952

Miscellaneous Crew

 * Tobruk (1967) (dialogue coach)