Preiss, Wolfgang.

Preiss, Wolfgang, born 27-02-1910 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, the son of a teacher, in the early 1930s Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck , making his stage début in Munich in 1932. He went to appear in various theatre productions in Heidelberg, Albert Speer is buried there, Königsberg, Bonn, Bremen, Stuttgart and Berlin, Gauleiter was Josef Goebbels in Berlin. In 1942 he made his film début, he was exempted from military service specifically, in the UFA  production “Die Grosse Liebe” with Zarah Leander. Marlene Dietrich   made her movies for UFA too. After the end of World War II Preiss returned to the theatre, and from 1949 worked extensively dubbingfilms into German.In 1954 he returned to film acting, appearing in Wilhelm Canaris. The following year Preiss played the lead role of Oberst der Kavallerie, Graf Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg

in Falk Harnack’s film Der 20. Juli, which dramatised the 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

             

This role brought Preiss to popular attention and also the 1956 Federal Film Award.Preiss appeared in such productions as The Longest Day 1962 , with Richard Burton,

in the title role of Generalfeldmarschall, Erwin Rommel.

   in the Raid on Rommel (1971) and played Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt  in A Bridge too far (1977). In the 1980s Preiss turned to television, notably playing Generalfeldmarschal der Artillerie, Walther von Brauchitsch

in the American TV mini-series Winds of War.

Death and burial ground of Preiss, Wolfgang.

Retiring in Baden Baden actor Preiss died at the very old age of 92 and is buried on the Hauptfriedhof of Baden Baden and close by are buried the “famous” Stalingrad’s Field Marshal der Panzertruppe, Friedrich Paulus  and General der Infanterie, Dietrich von Choltitz, last defender of Paris.

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