Career
He made his English film debut in the 1951 picture Decision Before Dawn. In this and many of his other Hollywood films, he played a German soldier. He had fought on the Eastern Front in World World War II, where he acquired his facial scars.
(German entry differs here:"Die markanten Narben in seinem Gesicht stammen nicht, wie vielfach zu lesen ist, aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, sondern von einem Autounfall auf dem Darmstädter Luisenplatz, in den der damals 14-Jährige verwickelt war" Translation: "The distinctive scars on his face does not come, as we read often, from the Second World War, but from a car accident on the Darmstadt Luisenplatz, in which the then 14-year-old was involved").