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John Van Dreelen
Age: 70 (passed away Sep. 4th, 1992)
Height:
Birth Place: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Born: May. 5th, 1922
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John Van Dreelen's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: The son of a celebrated Dutch actor, John Van Dreelen may have come by his debonair countenance with a bit of help from his continental pedigree. Fluent in several languages, he was reported to have escaped a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Holland by disguising himself as one of the German officers he would later play so often on both big and small screens. Though he bookended and sprinkled his career with appearances in many European films, Van Dreelen is best remembered as an A-list guest star in dozens of American television shows from the early sixties to the mid-eighties. Never a major player in American theatrical films, he nonetheless scored a few choice roles, including the Danish concert pianist who rescues and woos Lana Turner during an extended sequence in Madame X (1966). Van Dreelen also enjoyed an international stage career and starred in the original American touring production of "The Sound of Music." Despite his close identification with despotic roles, he also easily breezed through light drama and comedy and cuts a dashing and memorable figure in the sixties pop culture oeuvre.
TRIVIA:
- Sent to a Papanburg concentration camp during WWII, he joined a performers' troupe, and during one performance, managed to grab a German uniform from the audience cloak room and escaped in disguise.
- Played Captain Von Trapp in the first national tour of "The Sound of Music" opposite 'Barbara Meister' (qv) and later 'Jeannie Carson' (qv). He was considered composer 'Richard Rodgers (I)' (qv)'s first choice to play the movie role that eventually went to 'Christopher Plummer (I)' (qv).
- Early in his career he played 'Audrey Hepburn' (qv)'s husband in both the English and French versions of the little-seen movie "Monte Carlo Baby" filmed in the early 1950s.
- Was invited by 'Laurence Olivier' (qv) to co-star in his 1950 production of "Daphne Laureola" (he also changed his stage name from Jack Gimberg to John Van Dreelen). Following a tour of England, the play landed briefly in New York. Restrictive immigration laws made it impossible for him to stay in America, and he returned to Europe. He returned to America a number of years later.
- Made his US film debut in _A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)_ (qv). Director 'Douglas Sirk' (qv) was instrumental in helping John and his wife Jane emigrate to America.
- Son of Dutch actor 'Louis Gimberg' (qv) and the French baroness Labouchere.
- Fluent in Dutch, English, French, German and Italian.
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