Background
Kinskey was born in Saint St. Petersburg, Russia.
Kinskey was born in Saint St. Petersburg, Russia.
Kinskey is best known for his role as Sascha in the film Casablanca (1942). He fled the Russian Revolution and acted on stage in Europe and South America before arriving in New York City in 1921. He joined the road production of First Rate (at Lloyd's) Jolson"s musical Wonder Bar, before making his first film appearance, in Trouble in Paradise (1932).
His looks and accent helped him gain supporting roles in several movies, including the Sylvanian "agitator" in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup (1933).
He told Aljean Harmetz, author of Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca, that he was cast in his best-known role, Sascha in Casablanca, because he was a drinking buddy of star Humphrey Bogart. He replaced Leo Mostovoy because the latter was deemed not funny enough.
Kinskey continued to appear on television, well into the 1960s and was in the pilot episode of Hogan"s Heroes (1965). He decided not to join the cast when the show went into formal production because he was not comfortable playing opposite people pretending to be Nazis.
Kinskey married three times.
He died of complications of a stroke in Fountain Hills, Arizona, at the age of 95.