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Oscar Homolka
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Oscar Homolka was an Austrian character actor who worked in the Berlin theater and film world. He was best known for his characterization of spies and villians. He worked first for Max Reinhardt's theater and began his film career in the mid 1920s. In 1935 he emigrated voluntarily to Paris and England, leaving two years later for the United States. His career in Hollywood movies was quite successful; a sampling of his films are listed here:
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Colonel Stok (Oscar Homolka) is a Russian intelligence agent who wishes to defect, but it seems like complications prevent him from doing so, each time he tries. As such, he has asked the British government to assist him and soon enough, they formulate a plan to free him, which is headed by Harry Palmer (Michael Caine). Palmer serves a British spy, but he isn't pleased about it and in truth, he only does so to avoid a long prison sentence. But he soon heads into Russia to help extract Stok, complete with a plan that will throw everyone off course, as it involves the funeral of Stok. Of course, Stok is still alive, but Palmer plans to use a fake funeral as a way to export the Russian out of the area, without raising any suspicions.
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Beetle-browed, heavily-accented Viennese character actor "Oscar Homolka" graduated from the Royal Dramatic Academy in Vienna before going on to work on the Austrian and German stage, which led him to appear in many German silent and sound films. After Hitler came to power, he moved first to England, then to the U.S. in 1936. In Hollywood films and on Broadway he played imposing character roles, usually scheming or villainous but sometimes humorous or sympathetic. For his portrayal of gruff Uncle Chris in "I Remember Mama" (1948) he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Because of his coarse, Slavic features, he was frequently cast as heavies in films about foreign intrigue.
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Caine's second outing as Harry Palmer, this time in a more opaque and densely-plotted story in which Russian spy boss Oscar Homolka wants to defect to the west. Or maybe not. Israeli agent Eva Renzi confuses matters by busily tracking down Nazi war criminals and getting in Palmer's way. Evan Jones' script is brisk and serviceable enough, as is Hamilton's direction, and there's some good, tense action interspersed with Palmer's trademark sardonic humour.
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Oscar Homolka was born on August 12, 1898 in Vienna, Austria. The son of a sewing machine salesman and part-time cantor, Homolka was a vessel for his homemaker mother’s frustrated acting ambitions. Homolka began his career on the Viennese stage, but was soon working in the more prestigious the…
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Beginning in 1951, Homolka began working outside the United States. In the mid-1960s he settled in England where once again he specialized in playing the heavy foreign adversary. In both Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain he played the Russian intelligence officer Stok, adversary to Michael Caine's Harry Palmer. In Blake Edwards's The Tamarind Seed he was the nasty Russian General Golitsyn. His most famous Russian characterization... was as Tolstoy's General Kutuzov in King Vidor's version of War and Peace. His gravel-voiced Russian commandant brought him excellent notices; in retrospect, the performance seems as gratuitous in its showiness as the film itself.
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