Curt Lowens

Early life

Born Kurt Löwenstein in the East Prussian town of Allenstein (now Olsztyn, Poland), his father was a respected lawyer, and his mother was active with several local Jewish community organizations. His father's career declined due to loss of clients after the Nazis' takeover of Germany, so the family moved to Berlin hoping that the city's large Jewish community could provide more protection. Young Curt continued to receive an education and to prepare for his bar mitzvah under the guidance of Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky of the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue. After the violence of Kristallnacht (also known as the November Pogrom) in November 1938, the Nazis closed his school. In early 1939, Lowens received his bar mitzvah in a school auditorium with 34 other youths.

World War II and Holocaust

Lowens' older brother Heinz successfully emigrated to Britain a few months before the start of World War II. Curt and his parents planned to emigrate to the United States via the neutral Netherlands in early 1940. While waiting to depart from Rotterdam, however, the Germans invaded the Netherlands on the intended day of their departure. During the first two years of the German occupation, Curt's father worked at a desk job for the Jewish Council in Amsterdam, which initially saved the family from deportation to Auschwitz. Nonetheless, Curt and his mother were rounded up, unexpectedly, and deported to Westerbork in June 1943, but they were released through his father's connections.

The family subsequently went into hiding, each separately since individuals were more readily placed in homes of rescuers. Curt took on the false identity of "Ben Joosten". He managed to visit his mother when she, also under a false name, was treated at a hospital run by Catholic nuns; she died in January 1944. Curt, meanwhile, had become active in a network of Dutch rescuers, including Hanna Van de Voort and Nico Dohmen, aiding Jewish children in hiding. By war's end, some 150 Jewish children were rescued by this group alone. Curt Lowens also aided two downed American Army Air Corps flyers, for which he later received a commendation from General Dwight D. Eisenhower. After liberation, he joined the British Eighth Corps as an interpreter, aiding the British in their house arrest of the remaining Nazi leaders in Flensburg, Germany in mid-May 1945.

Acting career

In 1947, Curt, his father, and step-mother emigrated to the United States, and he became a naturalized American citizen. He trained to become an actor, studying at the HB Studio in New York City. He made his Broadway debut in 1951, playing a prison camp guard in Stalag 17. He subsequently appeared in productions of The First Gentleman and The Sound of Music, among others.

In 1959, during the Hollywood on the Tiber era, he moved to Rome. He appeared in a string of Italian films, including Vittorio De Sica's Two Women (1960) and Nanni Loy's The Four Days of Naples (1962). He moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, where he'd spend the rest of his life.

He appeared in over 100 films and TV shows. He was the voice of Abraham Van Helsing in the English dub of the anime OVA Hellsing Ultimate, and provided voice over work for video games like Lighthouse: The Dark Being and Medal of Honor. He also did German-language dubbing for Enter the Dragon (Roy Chiao), Animal House (John Vernon), Scarface (Harris Yulin), and Man on Fire (Giancarlo Giannini).

Death

Lowens died on 8 May 2017 at the age of 91 in Beverly Hills.

Partial stage credits

Stalag 17 (1951–52, 48th Street Theatre) - SS Guard

The First Gentleman (1957, Belasco Theatre) - Footman

Postmark Zero (1965, Brooks Atkinson Theatre)

The Sound of Music (1964, Mineola Playhouse) - Herr Zeller

The Threepenny Opera (1965, New York City Center) - Jimmy