Hollywood (Jan - Mar 1943)

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V Helmut Dantine enjoys playing Nazis if he can make them more hated, for they ruined his diplomatic career in Austria. He's in Warners' Edge of Darkness Dantine the Diplomat Ilv DOROTHY HAAS ■ Helmut Dantine is a very diplomatic young man, by instinct and training, except on the subject of Nazism. His hate of the Heil-Hitler boys burns with a bright flame and he doesn't temper his words on that score. So, if you hated the ruthless, arrogant Nazi flier — played by Helmut, and captured by Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver, he is very happy indeed. Every time he makes one more American despise a Nazi and what he calls the "deluded and cruel mentality" behind Hitler's system, he feels as good as when he buys a War Bond! Dantine has threefold reason to hate the Nazis, beyond just general principles. The twenty-four-year-old Vienna-born actor was imprisoned for three months in one of their concentration camps. Second, his parents are still in occupied Austria and he is never sure of their safety or welfare; recently he received a letter, after eight months of anxiety, saying they were still alive! And third, because of Hitler's occupation of his native land, he had to give up his diplomatic career. On the other hand, because of that he came to America and became an actor. For both those facts he is grateful, but he still hates Nazis. Perhaps that is his subconscious reason for not objecting to being "typed" in hiss-provoking roles since his sterling performance in Mrs. Miniver. Now under contract at Warners, he'll be making you despise him again as the Nazi commandant in Edge of Darkness. In Casablanca, as a Bulgarian refugee, he's on the receiving end of Nazi cruelty, so his propaganda batting average is still perfect! But one might suggest to the casting department that in Dantine they're passing up good romantic leading man material. You couldn't guess through the grime of his make-up in Mrs. Miniver that he is a handsome young man, with charm and manners to match! His black hair, deep-set gray eyes, sparkling teeth, finely chiseled features, warm smile and broad shoulders, should not be overlooked. Helmut — and you might like to know that the name can not be translated into English like Johann or Wilhelm, it's just Helmut — was the son of a well-to-do family. His father was an assistant to the Austrian Secretary of State, in charge of all Vienna railroads. While attending the University of Vienna, he also studied at the Consular Academy in the oncegay city on the Danube. He was not yet twenty when he received his diploma from both institutions and an appointment to the Austrian Embassy in London. Just before he was to leave from home for his London post, in March, 1938, the Hitler legions marched into his native land. He, along with thousands of anti-Nazis, was seized by storm troopers and herded into a concentration camp. After three months of imprisonment, the indignity and cruelty of which he seldom discusses, he was released on the understanding that he was to leave the country. Relatives in the United States arranged for his passage to this country. In his education for his diplomatic career, Helmut had acquired an excellent command of French, Italian and English, and the latter enabled him to enroll as a regular student at the University of California at Los Angeles, in the business administration school. He left after the first term. His latent love for the theater, which previously had been crowded back by his diplomatic training, was the reason. But his primary interest was in directing and producing, rather than acting. His training, however, included acting in several of the Pasadena Playhouse productions and there he was spotted by a talent scout. A few bit parts in pictures and an interlude as director of a stage play at a summer theater preceded Mrs. Miniver. Helmut is unreservedly — not just politely — enthusiastic on the subject of America. Especially California. "I know I don't have to remind anyone what American freedom means. But think of California! Where else can one go skiing in high mountains in the morning and swimming in the sea in the afternoon?" he asks. "And the food! How much we take our food for granted. You should see what people have to eat in Europe." Dantine's large and precise vocabulary, used to advantage in his earnest conversations, puts many native Americans to shame. He is not stuffy, however; he has an active and ingratiating sense of humor, surprising in one so serious on the subject of world affairs, who has witnessed the cruelties he has. He laughs warmly, likes to tell jokes on himself and likes American slang. He speaks of "dishing it out," "oomphing it up" and what's more is "hep" on when to use them. Not so, however, when he first arrived here three and a half years ago. While he was a student at U. C. L. A. he was telling classmates about sailing, a popular sport near Vienna, describing a tack and how to swing the main sail over hard. He didn't know the technical sailing term in English, but remembered the German, which is "halsen." Translating it in his mind, he realized that the noun root of that verb means "neck." Brightening, 36