Joseph Furst
| Joseph Fürst | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Joseph Fürst 13 February 1916 Vienna, Austria |
| Died |
29 November 2005 (aged 89) Bateau Bay, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation | Television actor |
| Years active | 1953–1986 |
Joseph Fürst (13 February 1916 – 29 November 2005) was an Austrian-born international film and television actor known for his English language roles in Britain and Australia, after first appearing on the Canadian stage.
Career
Fürst was regularly featured in UK television drama series of the 1960s and early 1970s with appearances in The Saint, The Champions, Doomwatch, The Persuaders!, and as the mad (and well remembered) Professor Zaroff in the Doctor Who story The Underwater Menace. Many people believe his accent in this role to have been put on; this is incorrect, it is in fact his real accent. He also played the role of Schneider in the Armchair Theatre play "A Magnum for Schneider", which launched Edward Woodward as the character of Callan. (The play led to the highly regarded Callan TV series.)
Joseph Fürst's notable film appearances included 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), Inn of the Damned (1975), and the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971) as Dr Metz.
He emigrated to Australia and starting in the mid-1970s acted in several guest roles on Australian television drama series. His roles included several appearances in the top-rated police drama Division 4 produced by Crawford Productions in the 1970s. He played an ongoing role in soap opera Number 96 in 1976 as deli owner Carlo Lenzi who romanced Norma Whittaker (Sheila Kennelly). He also played Heinrik Smeaton in The Young Doctors in 1979, and was a guest on situation comedy Kingswood Country, again opposite Kennelly. He guest starred in four episodes of A Country Practice in the early 1980s.
Joseph was interviewed by Dwayne Bunney and Dallas Jones for "Loose Cannon" and spoke about his career in an interview to be an extra feature for the reconstruction of the missing Doctor Who story "The Underwater Menace". This interview took place shortly before his death.
Selected filmography
- Exodus (1960) - Avidan
- Offbeat (1961) - Paul Vama
- Very Important Person (1961) - Luftwaffe interrogator
- Freud: The Secret Passion (1962) - Herr Jacob Koertner
- 55 Days at Peking (1963) - Capt. Hanselman
- The High Bright Sun (1964) - Dr. Andros
- The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) - Otto Lentz
- Drop Dead Darling (1966) - German Brasshat
- Theatre of Death (1967) - Karl Schiller
- Hammerhead (1968) - Count Ortega
- Eyewitness (1970) - Local Police Sergeant
- Goodbye Gemini (1970) - Georgiu
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Dr. Metz
- And Millions Will Die (1973) - Franz Kessler
- Plugg (1975) - Judge, Fraudenheist
- Inn of the Damned (1975) - Lazar Straulle