Though born in Czechoslovakia actor Karel Stepanek was generally regarded as a German actor due to his extensive film work in Germany as Karl Stepanek in the years before World War II Stepanek fled to England in 1940 where like many European refugee actors he specialized in portraying Teutonic villains He tried to stay away from outandout Nazi roles but his predilection for wearing black uniforms and barking out guttural commands left little doubt as to the political preferences of Stepaneks screen characters One of his most typical characterizations could be found in the 1946 POW drama The Captive Heart Stepanek also registered well as a friendlier foreigner in The Fallen Idol 1949 Commuting between London and Hollywood Karel Stepanek continued to fight World War II usually on the wrong side into such 60s films as Sink the Bismarck 1960 I Aim at the Stars 1960 and Operation Crossbow 1965
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