Carl Esmond

Q: When did Carl Esmond die?

Carl Esmond died on December 4, 2004.

Q: How old was Carl Esmond when they died?

Carl Esmond was 102 years old at the time of death.

Willy Eichberger (born Carl Cäsar Willy Simon; June 14, 1902– December 4, 2004) was an Austrian actor, credited in most of his English-language roles as Carl Esmond. He had a successful stage and screen career in Europe, before emigrating to the United States in the late 1930s as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

Early life

Esmond was born Carl Cäsar Willy Simon in Vienna. Although his age was given as 33 in the passenger list when he arrived in the US in January 1938, in his naturalization petition his birth year is stated as 1902.

Prior to his acting career, he worked as a bank clerk. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he was a pupil of Ernst Arndt. While in drama school, he changed his name to Willy Eichberger.

Career

Esmond (as Eichberger) made his professional debut at the Burgtheater aged 22. He played leading roles on stage in Vienna, Berlin, and Hamburg. He made his film debut in the operetta The Emperor's Waltz (1933). He was active in the Viennese genre of light romantic comedies so popular in the Austria of the interwar period. One of his best known film roles in this period was in Max Ophüls' Liebelei. From 1935 to 1936, he was a matinee idol for UFA.

In 1933, he traveled to London to appear in the musical Blossom Time, for which used the stage name Carl Esmond, which thereafter became his name in English-language productions. He then starred as Prince Albert in the West End stage play Victoria Regina (replacing Vincent Price), to great critical success.

In January 1938, Esmond came to Hollywood to play a German World War I pilot in The Dawn Patrol. While in America, he received threats to his family from Das Schwarze Korps, a newspaper run by the Nazi SS. Three months later, the Anschluss occurred, and Esmond refused to return to Austria for fear of reprisal. He remained in America, where he continued to appear on stage as well as in English-language films.

He appeared in over 50 films and numerous television programs. During World War II, he often portrayed a Nazi villain, though he also played more sympathetic roles in films like Little Men (1940) and The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944). He worked with many prominent directors in Hollywood, including Cecil B. DeMille, Howard Hawks, Jacques Tourneur, Edmund Goulding, Fritz Lang and Otto Preminger.

After the war, he became a fixture of early television plays. In 1953, he had a brief return to his native Europe, once again billed as Eichberger, appearing in three films including Max Ophüls' Lola Montès.

His last on-screen work was in the made-for-television biopic My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985).

Death

Esmond died in Brentwood, Los Angeles in 2004 at the age of 102.

Filmography

The Emperor's Waltz (1933) as Viktor Eggersdorf
Liebelei (1933) as Oberleutnant Theo Kaiser
Little Girl, Great Fortune (1933) as Georg Hellwig
Inge and the Millions (1933) as Walter Brink
Blossom Time (1934) as Count Rudi von Hohenberg
Evensong (1934) as Archduke Theodore
Love Conquers All (1934) as Willy Schneider
Invitation to the Waltz (1935) as Carl
Blood Brothers (1935) as Mirko
Die Pompadour (1935) as François Boucher
The Postman from Longjumeau (1936) as Chapelou
The Empress's Favourite (1936) as Fähnrich Alexander Tomsky
Fräulein Veronika (1936) as Paul Schmidt
Der Weg des Herzens [de] (1936) as Fred
Court Theatre (1936) as Josef Rainer
Romance (1936) as Graf Eduard Romanel
The Dawn Patrol (1938) as Hauptmann Von Mueller
Thunder Afloat (1939) as U-boat Captain
Little Men (1940) as Professor Bhaer
Sergeant York (1941) as German Major
Sundown (1941) as Jan Kuypens
Pacific Rendezvous (1942) as Andre Leemuth
Panama Hattie (1942) as Lucas Kefler (uncredited)
The Navy Comes Through (1942) as Richerd Kroner
Seven Sweethearts (1942) as Carl Randall
Margin for Error (1943) as Baron Max von Alvenstor
First Comes Courage (1943) as Maj. Paul Dichter
Address Unknown (1944) as Baron von Freische
The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) as Lt. Dirk van Daal
Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944) as Major von Behn (uncredited)
The Master Race (1944) as Dr. Andrei Krystoff
Ministry of Fear (1944) as Willi Hilfe
Experiment Perilous (1944) as Maitland
Without Love (1945) as Paul Carrell
Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945) as Baron Zoltan Faludi
This Love of Ours (1945) as Uncle Bob
The Catman of Paris (1946) as Charles Regnier
Lover Come Back (1946) as Paul Millard
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947) as Dr. Lorenz
Slave Girl (1947) as El Hamid
Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) as Dr. Ritter von Stolb
The Desert Hawk (1950) as Kibar
Mystery Submarine (1950) as Lt. Heldman
Racket Squad (1951)
Stars Over Hollywood (1951)
The World in His Arms (1952) as Prince Semyon
Gruen Guild Playhouse (1952) as Baron de Sarnac, Chief of Police
Biff Baker, U.S.A. (1952) as Major Morovik
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (1952) as Count Borselli
Ford Theatre (1953) as Maurice de Szekely
Love's Awakening (1953) as Michael Rainer
Regina Amstetten (1954) as Prof. Werner Grüter
Lola Montès (1955) as Doctor
Crossroads (1956, TV Series) as Major Zuntz
Lux Video Theatre (1955–1956, TV Series) as Pierre / Victor Laszlo
Jane Wyman Presents: The Fireside Theatre (1956)
Cheyenne (1956) as Col. Picard
Passport to Danger (1955–1956, TV Series) as Fabian
The Joseph Cotten Show (1955–1956, TV Series) as Vail
Soldiers of Fortune (1955–1956, TV Series) as Nicholas Van Loon / Helmut Van Dorn
Climax! (1957) as Paul Ehrenhardt
Meet McGraw (1957) as Baron Von Schekt
From the Earth to the Moon (1958) as Jules Verne
Behind Closed Doors (1959) as Dr. Haas
General Electric Theater (1959) as Nikolas Bethlan
Thunder in the Sun (1959) as Andre Dauphin
77 Sunset Strip (1959) as Kurt von Paulus
Five Fingers (1959, TV Series) as Marcuse
Behind Closed Doors (1959, TV Series) as Dr. Haas
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1960) as Emile
The Deputy (1960) as Duke Dmitri
Maverick (1961) as Comte deLisle
Hawaiian Eye (1961) as Von Steuben
Brushfire (1962) as Martin
Hitler (1962) as Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel
Kiss of Evil (1963) as Anton (US TV version)
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1964) as Baron Pyrrhos
Morituri (1965) as Busch
Run for Your Life (1965) as Otto Hiltz
Convoy (1965) as Field Marshal Von Spear
Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966) as Professor Jan Stefánik
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1966, TV Series) as Baron Freddy de Chasseur
Garrison's Gorillas (1967, TV Series) as German General
Insight (1967, TV Series)
The Big Valley (1967, TV Series) as Marquis de Laccaise
To Rome With Love (1970, TV Series) as Kurt
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (1972, TV Series) as August Werner
McMillan & Wife (1972, TV Series) as Zeiss
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977, TV Series) as Kolbe
My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985, TV Movie) as General Von Helmuth (final film role)