Villain of the Month: Frederick Brunn
Immigrant German actors had a boon period during WII, playing Nazi villains in countless films as sort of an ironic revenge against the very people that drove them from their country. Frederick Brunn had a prolific career during the forties playing Nazis, but after the war his career petered out.
His serial work included playing a radio operator for superspy Nestor Paiva in Universal’s Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (1943) and playing Wolfe, Lionel Royce’s main henchman in Republic’s Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1943). His other war time films included Sahara (1943), The Strange Death of Adolph Hitler (1943), Passage to Marseille (1944), U-Boat Prisoner (1944), Son of Lassie (1945) and Tarzan and the Amazons (1945).
His post war career had him appearing in more diverse films like The Razor’s Edge (1946), 13 Rue Madeleine (1946), Women in the Night (1948), I, Jane Doe (1948), When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950) and What Price Glory (1952); usually still cast as a German soldier. he would later go on to appear on TV during the fifties in shows like Sky King.
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