Peter van Eyck
Peter van Eyck, actually Peter Götz von Eick, according to other sources idols of stone house, (* July 16, 1913 in stone weir, Pomerania, † 15 July 1969 Männedorf, Switzerland ) was a German - American actor.
Life
After graduation and a unfinished musical studies, he traveled to numerous countries, including Cuba in 1937, and then remained in New York, where he worked as a bar pianist. In addition, he composed and wrote for revues. For Irving Berlin, he worked occasionally as a production assistant, and Orson Welles, he was briefly assistant director. A job as a truck driver led van Eyck to Hollywood. There he met Billy Wilder, whom he had known in Berlin. This helped him to minor roles, primarily as a performer of figures of German origin and roles of Nazis.
In 1943 he participated in the US- American citizenship and was drafted into the U.S. Army. After the war he was employed in Germany as American control officer for the German film and remained until 1948 head of the film section. During this time, van Eyck also acted for the first time in a German production ( Hello Miss ) as an actor.
With the film Wages of Fear alongside Yves Montand and Charles Vanel his international breakthrough. In Fritz Lang's last film, The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960 ), he was seen. Van Eyck, who had previously embodies so many officers of the Nazi regime in the period, played the role of an American artist in this film.
Van Eyck was married in first marriage to the American actress Ruth Ford. She had with van Eyck a daughter named Shelly. With his second wife Inge of Voris he had daughters Kristina Van Eyck and Claudia. He died in 1969 of blood poisoning. His grave site is located in the cemetery St.Margrethen in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.