Like his Italian-French counterpart Lino Ventura, who had been a
wrestler before becoming an actor, Berlin-born Karl-Otto Alberty was an
amateur boxer before he turned to acting, making his debut in a
Konstanz theater in 1959. For three decades he was to be a regular of
German cinema and television as well as of international
English-speaking productions. However, unlike Ventura, Alberty did not become a star, remaining confined to supporting roles
or even bit parts, most of the time as a German officer, although in
widely seen international productions such as
Gesprengte Ketten (1963),
Die Verdammten (1969) or
Im Morgengrauen brach die Hölle los (1971). A lookalike
of Benito Mussolini (with the exception of his white-blond hair), he
would have been an ideal Duce though. A missed opportunity indeed.
