Curd Jürgens

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 many war films. Notable performances in this vein include his breakthrough screen role in Des Teufels General (1955, The Devil's General), a fictional portrayal of World War I flying ace and World War II Luftwaffe general Ernst Udet, followed by Roger Vadim's film Et Dieu... créa la femme (And God Created Woman) starring Brigitte Bardot.

Jürgens first Hollywood film was The Enemy Below (1957), in which he portrayed a German U-boat commander. In 1962 he played the German general Günther Blumentritt in The Longest Day. Later, in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), he played the villain 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 (1981). In English-language television he played Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in several episodes of the BBC series Fall of Eagles (1974) and appeared as General Vladimir in the BBC's Smiley's People (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.

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. He died there from a heart attack on 18 June 1982. 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. Jürgens was interred in the Vienna's Zentralfriedhof.

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)