The Cast of The Blue Max: Where are they now?

[Pete Hill]

I originally posted this in the Books section in the thread devoted to the recent sad passing of Blue Max author Jack D Hunter. I thought this would also suit the movie section.



The cast of the 1966 movie The Blue Max- Where are they now?

Sadly, the following members of the cast are no longer with us.

Leading man George Peppard who played Bruno Stachel sadly died of Leukemia in 1994, aged 66. Peppard earned a private pilot's license during filming, offering to fly some of the vintage aircraft himself.

James Mason, who played General Von Klugermann, died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 75, in 1984. Mason was a conscientious objector during WW2.

English actor Peter Woodthorpe, who played NCO Rupp and to grumpily has to drive Stachel on a motorcyle & sidecar through the pouring rain to vainly search for evidence of the latter's first kill, died in 2004, aged 73. The character of Rupp plays a much larger role in the novel than he does in the film.

German-born, UK-based actor Anton Diffring, who played General Von Klugermann's assistant Holbach, died in 1989, aged 71. Diffring, who was born in Koblenz, Germany, was a three-week old baby when WW1 ended in 1918.

English actor Derek Newark, who played Chief Mechanic Ziegel, passed away in 1998, aged 65.

Polish-born actor Friedrich von Ledebur, who briefly appeared as The Field-Marshall, died in 1986, aged 86. During WW1, 16-year-old Friedrich enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1916 and later served as an officer in the Cavalry.

Charles Boddington, one of the senior stunt pilots who worked on the film, lost his life in 1971 when he crashed a replica SE5 during filming of the movie Von Richthofen & Brown.

Frank McCarthy , the American artist, illustrator and graphic designer who produced the poster for the film (see above), died of Lung Cancer in 2002, aged 78. He illustrated the posters for many famous films, including The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, The Ten Commandments and several of the James Bond films. He is also well-known for his Western Paintings and he was a member of the Cowboy Artists Guild of America.

Jerry Goldsmith, the American composer of the film’s score, passed away in 2004 at the age of 75. A prolific and much-admired composer, he wrote the musical scores for close to 200 films between 1957 and 2003, including The Omen (for which he won an Academy Award), The Agony & the Ecstasy, First Blood and most of the Star Trek films. He was nominated for Oscars another 17 times during his career.


On a happier note, the following cast members are still with us:-

Ursula Andress, the Swiss actress who played Countess Kaeti von Klugermann, celebrated her 73rd birthday last month and is still as elegant and beautiful as ever. Everyone remembers her for walking out of the ocean in a white bikini in the James Bond movie Dr No but I choose her bath-towel scene in the Blue Max as her sexiest moment.

English actor Jeremy Kemp, who played Willi von Klugermann, is 74 years-old and still going strong.

German actor Karl Michael-Volger, who played Hauptmann Otto Heidemann (and who also played General Rommel in the movie Patton), is 81 years-old and living in Germany.

Northern-Irish actor Harry Towb, who played adjutant Kettering, is 83 years-old and still working. He appeared in two episodes of the long-running British TV soap-opera Eastenders in December 2008. Kettering is another Blue Max character who is given a smaller role in the film than he has in the original novel.

English-actor Derren Nesbitt, who played Fabian, is 73 years-old. He recently appeared in the movie Flawless in 2007. He was almost blinded whilst filming the movie Where Eagles Dare in 1968 when squibs in his chest designed to stimulate the impact of bullets, accidentally exploded upwards into his face instead of outwards as they were supposed to. He was arrested for physically-harming his first wife in 1973 after she confessed to having an affair and he was convicted of assault. He now lives with his second wife in the UK.

Douglas Slocombe, the Cinematographer for The Blue Max, is 96 years-old and lives in West London with his wife. He was nominated for a BAFTA award for his work on the Blue Max and was nominated for an Oscar for three other films. He won the British Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 and was awarded an OBE last year. He has been Cinematographer for over 50 films, including the first three Indiana Jones movies for Steven Speilberg. Born in 1913, Slocombe would have been a five-year-old boy when the real-life events depicted in The Blue Max would have taken place.

John Guillermin, who was Director of the Blue Max, is 83 years-old and is retired and living in the UK.

Stunt Pilot Derek Piggott, who flew the Fokker Dr 1 under a bridge during the filming of the Stachel versus Willi scene, is 86 years-old and living in the UK. He has amassed 10,000 hours in the air as a pilot of both powered aircraft and gliders.

Thanks to Jack’s novel and the subsequent movie, I was hooked on WW1 aviation for life. When I was 25, I had the pleasure of a ride in a Tiger Moth, sitting up front. As we took off, I found myself sub-consciously doing the motions of cocking imaginary machine-guns like I saw on the movie. Clink-clunk! Clink-clunk!

RIP Mr Hunter. God Bless. Pete.
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[mgunns]

Thanks for that in depth account of the cast and characters of that movie. I first saw it in 1966 with my dad (A WWII Navy veteran, and WWI Aviation fanatic) and to me at that time those scenes of Ursala with the towel, were absolutely breathtakingly stunning. I recently watched the movie, after almost 30 years of not seeing it, and I was surprised how tame it seems today. Still a great movie, they just don't make them like that any more.

[ONEALM]

Thanks for posting that Pete - interesting reading.

Thanks for that in depth account of the cast and characters of that movie. I first saw it in 1966 with my dad (A WWII Navy veteran, and WWI Aviation fanatic) and to me at that time those scenes of Ursala with the towel, were absolutely breathtakingly stunning. I recently watched the movie, after almost 30 years of not seeing it, and I was surprised how tame it seems today. Still a great movie, they just don't make them like that any more

As fare aas bening "tame" there's somethig to be said for a little "mystery". I still find those scenes better than most of the tripe I see today. It could very well be though that when it comes to Human Cloning, Ursula is my sole argument FOR it. Maybe with another actress I might not be so ethusiastic...

[Maxim08]

I would be interested in what happened to one of the pilots, Taffy Rich.
About 10 years ago I came across his copy of the script which I still have. Always wanted to know more about the man.
Regards,
John

[crankcase]

Originally Posted by mgunns

Thanks for that in depth account of the cast and characters of that movie. I first saw it in 1966 with my dad (A WWII Navy veteran, and WWI Aviation fanatic) and to me at that time those scenes of Ursala with the towel, were absolutely breathtakingly stunning. I recently watched the movie, after almost 30 years of not seeing it, and I was surprised how tame it seems today. Still a great movie, they just don't make them like that any more.

They didn't call her Ursula Undress for nothing!
marc

[bristol scout]

i remember a great line in the novel----though i don't have it now it goes something like this--(bruno is being interviewed by the german press) 'what are you thinking herr stachel as you dive on an unsuspecting tommy'----'I HOPE THIS FRI--ING AEROPLANE HOLDS TOGETHER!

great book on the subject of ariel warfare---but not in the same league as 'Winged Victory' by V.M.Yeates. Now that is a masterpiece and i beg those who have never read it to try to track down a copy.
Dave.

[Willi Von Klugerman]

Still a great movie, they just don't make them like that any more.

I agree!The bridge scene was one great piece of cinematography which will never be matched anytime soon.It was cool and still is!

[bristol scout]

...but now, a step beyond the halfway house, that immense experience begins to fall into perspective as merely an episode. a great episode of course, one that was to change the whole shape of civilisation....
dave.

[Gregvan]

Hi There,

Thanks, Pete, for this interesting thread.

As Pete pointed out, Karl Michael Vogler, the German actor who played Hptm. Heidemann in TBM, also played General Erwin Rommel (though he looked nothing like the real man) in 20th Century Fox's award-winning 1970 movie "Patton" (which will be aired on Monday Afternoon, May 25, on AMC at about 4:00 - check your local listings!).

Anyway, There were several other connections between the two war films - both filmed in Europe only about 4 years apart by 20th Century Fox (TBM in Ireland, Patton in Spain) which you can muse over the next time you watch "Patton".

Of course, the award-winning musical composer Jerry Goldsmith scored both films, and his score for "Patton" is widely considered one of the best war film scores ever (though the TBM score remains my favorite). If one listens closely to the "Patton" score one can occasionally catch some very "Blue Max-esque" refrains. I like to think that Goldsmith practiced scoring such themes as war, attack and the fleeting nature of glory for "Patton" when he did the "Blue Max" score. He also scored "Tora! Tora! Tora!" at about the same time as Patton.

Northern-Irish actor Harry Towb, who played Kettering in "The Blue Max", also has a very brief role in "Patton". He plays the American GI cook who gets chewed out by Patton for not wearing a proper uniform and helmet. His one memorable line is something like "Hell, general, I'm a cook!". He sounds very American to me. The second or third time I saw "Patton", I finally recognized good old Kettering again...

Another nice trivia note: Karl Michael Vogler played Rommel in "Patton," while James Mason had played the German general in two much earlier films ("The Desert Fox" in 1951 and "The Desert Rats" in 1953). So in the cast of "The Blue Max" you had both former and future Rommels.

English actor Jeremy Kemp (Willi von Klugermann) got other opportunities to later play German officers - perhaps due to his role in TBM. He played "Kurt von Ruger" in the gawd-awful "Darling Lily" (parts of which were made in Ireland using the many of the same aircraft and fields as TBM). In the American TV miniseries "Winds of War" (1983) and "War and Remembrance" he played the fictitious German general "Armin von Roon".

Sometimes I think I have waaay to much time on my hands to come up with this stuff...

[bristol scout]

GREG,
JEREMY KEMP started as an actor in the early 60's-to late 70's B.B.C. series 'Z-CARS'----but more to the point, perhaps, i always thought (as you do it sounds) the Blue Max was lifted into another level (i loved the film mind you) by it's outstanding Jerry Goldsmith score.

Music can do that can't it.
cheers,
Dave.
EDIT--was'nt Karl MIchael Vogler also in 'those magnificent men in their flying machines' comedy?