Haggard-looking, long-nosed and sad-eyed German character actor and comic, the son of a publisher. On stage from 1924, in films from 1941. He was conscripted into the army near the end of World War II, was taken prisoner and interned as an American POW. Returned to acting in 1947 and established himself during the next twenty years as a versatile character player, essaying anything from domestics and waiters, to long-suffering husbands, kindly fathers, pedantic officials and nosy hairdressers.