Helmut Dantine

Helmut Dantine

Helmut Dantine was an Austrian-American actor who often played Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s. His best-known performances are perhaps the German pilot in Mrs. Miniver, and the desperate refugee in Casablanca, who tries gambling to obtain travel visa money for himself and his wife. As his acting career waned, he turned to producing. Dantine enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles. His relatives thought he would go into business, but he became interested in theater. He began his U.S. acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse, while running two gas stations in order to pay his expenses. Dantine was spotted by a talent scout from Warner Bros, who signed him to a contract. Dantine had uncredited parts in International Squadron and To Be or Not to Be, before his first credited role in MGM's Mrs. Miniver, playing a downed German pilot captured by the title character (played by Greer Garson). It was a huge hit, and Dantine received much positive attention from being in the film. In August 1942, Warners signed him to a new acting contract. The studio kept him busy with roles in the World War II films, The Pied Piper, Desperate Journey fighting Errol Flynn, and The Navy Comes Through. He had a sympathetic role in Casablanca, as a young refugee trying and failing to earn money via gambling. Warners begin to give Dantine more sizeable roles in their "A" films, Watch on the Rhine, Edge of Darkness, playing a Nazi officer, again fighting Errol Flynn, and Mission to Moscow, playing a sympathetic Russian. Dantine's good looks caused him to receive a lot of fan mail and, in the words of one profile, "the studio began to realize it had something else besides a Hollywood Hitlerite on its hands". Warners announced they had bought Night Action by Norman Krasna as a vehicle for Dantine, but the film appears not to have been made. Instead, he had a large role playing the villain in Northern Pursuit (1943), as a Nazi running loose in northern Canada fighting Errol Flynn again. Warner Bros. later cast him in a sympathetic role in Passage to Marseille, and he was one of several stars in Hollywood Canteen. In 1944, exhibitors voting for "Stars of Tomorrow", picked Dantine at number 10. Warners gave him a sympathetic lead in Hotel Berlin, as the leader of the German underground. He was once again a Nazi on-the-run in Escape in the Desert, a remake of The Petrified Forest. His last role for Warners was in the film noir, Shadow of a Woman. He then left the studio. As his acting career wound down, he became a vice-president of Hollywood mogul Joseph Schenck's company, Schenck Enterprises, in 1959; Schenck was his wife's uncle. He later went to work as producer with Robert L. Lippert Productions and then as president of Hand Enterprises Inc. Among Dantine's later screen appearances, there were three films for which he was the executive producer: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and The Killer Elite, both directed by Sam Peckinpah, and The Wilby Conspiracy. He was also in The Fifth Musketeer and Tarzan the Apeman. On 2 May 1982, Helmut Dantine died in Beverly Hills from a heart attack at age 63. According to one obituary, "He specialized in portrayals of Nazis, sometimes as the handsome but icy SS sadist battling Allied heroes, sometimes as a sympathetic German soldier forced, against his better judgment, to fight".

  • Title: Helmut Dantine
  • Popularity: 3.212
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1918-10-07
  • Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Helmut Guttmann
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Helmut Dantine Movies

  • 1943
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    Casablanca

    Casablanca

    8.159 1943 HD

    In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.

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  • 1942
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    Mrs. Miniver

    Mrs. Miniver

    7.016 1942 HD

    Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the...

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  • 1942
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    To Be or Not to Be

    To Be or Not to Be

    7.8 1942 HD

    During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

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  • 1965
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    Operation Crossbow

    Operation Crossbow

    6.7 1965 HD

    Allied agents infiltrate the Nazi rocket complex at Peenemunde in order to obtain their secrets and sabotage the plant. The film alternates between...

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  • 1957
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    The Story of Mankind

    The Story of Mankind

    4.636 1957 HD

    The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.

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  • 1947
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    Whispering City

    Whispering City

    4.8 1947 HD

    After hearing that a famous actress is dying in a hospital after being hit by a car, a reporter goes to the hospital to interview the actress. She...

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  • 1946
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    Shadow of a Woman

    Shadow of a Woman

    4.2 1946 HD

    Brooke's marital life with Eric takes a downturn when she starts suspecting that her husband is starving his son from a prior marriage to death in...

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  • 1944
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    Hollywood Canteen

    Hollywood Canteen

    7.3 1944 HD

    Two soldiers on leave spend three nights at a club offering free of charge food, dancing, and entertainment for servicemen on their way overseas....

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  • 1953
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    Call Me Madam

    Call Me Madam

    6.3 1953 HD

    Washington hostess Sally Adams becomes a Truman-era US ambassador to a European grand duchy.

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  • 1944
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    Passage to Marseille

    Passage to Marseille

    6.6 1944 HD

    A freedom-loving French journalist sacrifices his happiness and security to battle Nazi tyranny.

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  • 1943
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    Northern Pursuit

    Northern Pursuit

    5.9 1943 HD

    Canadian Mountie Steve Wagner captures a German Luftwaffe officer on a spy mission, who later escapes from the prison camp. To catch the spy ring,...

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  • 1943
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    Edge of Darkness

    Edge of Darkness

    6.1 1943 HD

    The film pivots around the local Norwegian doctor and his family. The doctor's wife (Ruth Gordon) wants to hold on to the pretence of gracious living...

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  • 1954
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    Stranger from Venus

    Stranger from Venus

    5 1954 HD

    Stranger from Venus (a.k.a. Immediate Disaster and The Venusian) is the story of a woman who meets a stranger with no pulse who has the power of life...

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  • 1945
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    Escape in the Desert

    Escape in the Desert

    1 1945 HD

    Escaped Nazi POWs hold the denizens of a California resort hostage.

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  • 1945
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    Hotel Berlin

    Hotel Berlin

    6.1 1945 HD

    An assortment of diverse characters gather at the Hotel Berlin in World War II Germany as the Third Reich falls.

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  • 1969
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    The File on Devlin

    The File on Devlin

    1 1969 HD

    A young woman finds herself engulfed in Cold War intrigue when her father, a Nobel Prize-winning author, vanishes while travelling near the Russian...

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  • 1958
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    Fraulein

    Fraulein

    7 1958 HD

    A Nazi's fiancee helps an escaped U.S. soldier, then meets him in postwar Berlin.

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  • 1943
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    Watch on the Rhine

    Watch on the Rhine

    6.8 1943 HD

    On the eve of World War II, the German Kurt Müller, his American-born wife Sara, and their three children, having lived in Europe for years,...

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  • 1975
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    The Killer Elite

    The Killer Elite

    5.768 1975 HD

    Mike Locken is one of the principal members of a group of freelance spies. A significant portion of their work is for the CIA, and while on a case...

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  • 1942
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    The Pied Piper

    The Pied Piper

    6.818 1942 HD

    Englishman Mr. Howard is on a fishing holiday in eastern France when the Germans invade in 1940. Setting off to try and get back home he is persuaded...

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  • 1958
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    Tempest

    Tempest

    6.2 1958 HD

    A young officer in the army of Empress Catherine of Russia is on his way to his new duty station at a remote outpost. During a blinding snowstorm he...

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  • 1940
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    Escape

    Escape

    7.4 1940 HD

    An American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration camp. With the help of an American-born widowed countess...

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  • 1956
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    War and Peace

    War and Peace

    6.6 1956 HD

    Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia including his disastrous 1812 invasion serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two...

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  • 1953
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    Guerrilla Girl

    Guerrilla Girl

    1 1953 HD

    Thriller - During World War II, Helmut Dantine specialized in playing villainous Nazis in Hollywood melodramas. He offers a compelling performance in...

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  • 1974
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    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

    7.1 1974 HD

    An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a...

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  • 1956
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    Alexander the Great

    Alexander the Great

    5.9 1956 HD

    An engrossing spectacle set in the 4th-century BC, in which Alexander of Greece leads his troops forth, conquering all of the known world, in the...

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  • 1979
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    The Fifth Musketeer

    The Fifth Musketeer

    5 1979 HD

    King Louis XIV has without his knowledge a twin brother, Philippe, but when he is told, he immediately locks up his brother in the Bastille. The king...

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  • 1975
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    The Wilby Conspiracy

    The Wilby Conspiracy

    6.5 1975 HD

    Having spent 10 years in prison for nationalist activities, Shack Twala is finally ordered released by the South African Supreme Court but he finds...

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  • 1957
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    Hell on Devil's Island

    Hell on Devil's Island

    6 1957 HD

    An ex-con from Devil's Island enlists the support of the governor's daughter in exposing a prison mining operation.

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  • 1943
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    Mission to Moscow

    Mission to Moscow

    5.2 1943 HD

    Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.

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  • 1957
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    Kean: Genius or Scoundrel

    Kean: Genius or Scoundrel

    6.8 1957 HD

    England, first half of the 19th century. Edmund Kean is a celebrated theatre actor, notorious for his tumultuous private life. He is in love with the...

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  • 1974
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    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

    Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

    7.1 1974 HD

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  • 1975
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    The Killer Elite

    The Killer Elite

    5.768 1975 HD

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  • 1958
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    Thundering Jets

    Thundering Jets

    1 1958 HD

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  • 1948
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    Studio One

    Studio One

    4.727 1948 HD

    An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One,...

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  • 1970
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    Night Gallery

    Night Gallery

    7.83 1970 HD

    Rod Serling narrates an anthology of fantasy, horror and sci-fi stories from a set resembling a macabre museum. A chilling work of art serves as the...

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  • 1953
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    General Electric Theater

    General Electric Theater

    6 1953 HD

    General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was...

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  • 1951
    imgS61 E1

    Hallmark Hall of Fame

    Hallmark Hall of Fame

    8.667 1951 HD

    Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The...

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  • 1965
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    Run for Your Life

    Run for Your Life

    7.2 1965 HD

    Run for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to...

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  • 1964
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    The Rogues

    The Rogues

    7.5 1964 HD

    The Rogues is an American television series that appeared on NBC from September 13, 1964, to April 18, 1965, starring David Niven, Charles Boyer, and...

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  • 1955
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    The Millionaire

    The Millionaire

    5 1955 HD

    An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were...

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  • 1951
    imgS2 E33

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    7 1951 HD

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was...

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  • 1957
    imgS2 E35

    The Thin Man

    The Thin Man

    7.6 1957 HD

    Nick Charles was a private detective who married the wealthy Nora and decided to settle down and leave the good life. Unfortunately for the couple,...

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  • 1954
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    Climax!

    Climax!

    3 1954 HD

    Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary...

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  • 1957
    imgS4 E9

    Sugarfoot

    Sugarfoot

    4.8 1957 HD

    Sugarfoot is an American western television series that aired on ABC from 1957 to 1961. The series stars Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster, an Easterner...

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  • 1949
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    Suspense

    Suspense

    4.6 1949 HD

    An anthology series adapted from the radio program of the same name. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by...

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  • 1949
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    Lights Out

    Lights Out

    5.3 1949 HD

    Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the...

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  • 1954
    imgS4 E18

    Studio 57

    Studio 57

    1 1954 HD

    Studio 57 is an American anthology series that was broadcast on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network from September 1954 to September 1955, and...

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  • 1951
    imgS2 E33

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    7 1951 HD

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was...

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