Curt Lowens, a Holocaust survivor and World War II hero who came to Hollywood and portrayed German officers in such films as Tobruk and Torn Curtain and on television in Wonder Woman and Hogan's Heroes, has died. He was 91.
Lowens fell recently and died Monday night at a rehabilitation center of Beverly Hills, according to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. "Curt was a beloved member of our community," it said in a statement.
A native of East Prussia (later Poland) who was held in a concentration camp, Lowens worked for directors Alfred Hitchcock in Torn Curtain (1966) and Arthur Hiller in Tobruk (1967) and drew on his wartime experiences for his roles in Two Women (1960), Counterpoint (1967), The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) and To Be or Not to Be (1983).
Auditioning for a part in The Hindenburg (1975), Lowens informed director Robert Wise that he had witnessed the German airship flying over Berlin as a child and was quickly hired.
Lowens also portrayed a Gestapo captain on Hogan's Heroes and an SS general on Wonder Woman and showed up on military-themed TV shows including 12 O'Clock High, Combat!, Mission: Impossible, The Six Million Dollar Man and The A-Team.
