Peter van Eyck

Peter van Eyck
Postcard
Born Götz von Eick
16 July 1911
Steinwehr, Pomerania
Died 15 July 1969(1969-07-15) (aged 57)
Männedorf, near Zürich, Switzerland
Cause of death Sepsis
Occupation Actor
Years active 1943–1969
Spouse(s) Ruth Ford (1940-194?) (divorced) 1 child
Inge von Voris (?-1969) (his death) 2 children

Peter van Eyck was a German-born film actor. He was born Götz von Eick on 16 July 1911 in Steinwehr, Pomerania, German Empire (now Kamienny Jaz, Poland) and died 15 July 1969 in Männedorf near Zürich, Switzerland). He was perhaps best known (in English-language films) for his roles in the 1960s features The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Shalako and The Bridge at Remagen.

Biography

Van Eyck was born into an aristocratic German family from Pomerania (since 1945 part of Poland).[1] After graduating from high school he studied music. In 1931 he left Poland, living in Paris, London, Tunis, Algiers and Cuba, before settling in New York. He earned a living playing the piano in a bar, and wrote and composed for revues and cabarets. He worked for Irving Berlin as a stage manager and production assistant, and for Orson Welles Mercury Theatre company as an assistant director.[2]

Van Eyck went to Hollywood where he worked as a truck driver. He initially found radio work with the help of Billy Wilder, who later gave him small film roles.[3] In 1943 he took US citizenship and was drafted into the army as a commissioned officer. At the end of the war he returned to Germany as a control officer for film and remained there until 1948 as director of the film section.[2] In 1949 he appeared in his first German film Hallo, Fräulein![4]

He gained international recognition with a leading role in the 1953 film Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.[5] He went to appear in episodes of several US TV series including The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[6][7] In English-language films he was most often typecast as a Nazi or other unsympathetic type, while in Germany he was a popular leading man in a wider range of films, including several appearances in the Doctor Mabuse thriller series of the 1960s.[1][8]

Personal life

Van Eyck was married to the American actress Ruth Ford for a short time in the 1940s.[9] With his second wife, Inge von Voris, he had two daughters, Kristina, also an actor, and Claudia.[10]

Death

He died at in 1969 in Männedorf, Switzerland of septicaemia, caused by an untreated relatively minor injury. He was 57.

Partial filmography

References

  1. 1 2 Davidson, John; Hake, Sabine (2008), Framing the Fifties: Cinema in a Divided Germany, Berghahn Books, p. 47, ISBN 9781845455361
  2. 1 2 Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim (2009), The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema, Berghahn Books, p. 496, ISBN 9780857455659
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal. "Peter Van Eyck - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  4. ↑ "Peter Van Eyck". British Film Institute.
  5. ↑ "Gestorben Peter Van Eyck" [Obituary Peter Van Eyck]. Der Spiegel. 21 July 1969.
  6. ↑ "CTVA Crime "Ellery Queen, Detective" (TPA)(1954) starring Hugh Marlowe". ctva.biz.
  7. ↑ "Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Season 1, Episode 21 Safe Conduct". TVGuide.com.
  8. ↑ "The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) - Fritz Lang - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  9. ↑ "Ruth Ford", The Telegraph, 17 August 2009
  10. ↑ "In Biographical Summaries of Notable People, Kristina van Eyck", MyHeritage
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