Gert Fröbe

German actor Gert Fröbe rose to worldwide fame as the megalomaniacal "Goldfinger" (1964), perhaps the best of the Sean Connery-era James Bond films. He had enjoyed a lengthy career in his native country playing roles diametrically opposite to his dastardly Bond villain; from 1948 through the early 1960s, Fröbe drew comparisons to actor Danny Kaye in a series of popular comedies while also appearing in numerous dramas and suspense thrillers. Though his grasp of English was limited at best - his dialogue in "Goldfinger" was dubbed by another actor - Fröbe enjoyed a lengthy career in Hollywood and British productions, including comic turns in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1969) and more serious roles in Richard Brooks' "$" (1971) and Ingmar Bergman's "The Serpent's Egg" (1976), among other films. At the time of his death in 1988, Gert Fröbe was perhaps among the best known German actors in the world, with a body of work to his name that both encompassed and exceeded his best known effort as one of James Bond's most challenging nemeses.