Arnim Dahl (March 12, 1922 in

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

– August 3, 1998 in

Wedel Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and west of Hamburg. History Foundation and Middle Ages The first known mention o ...

) was a German

Stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

Life

His father Hermann Dahl was a former German champion in springboard diving. Following in his father’s footsteps, Dahl was the 1938 German youth champion in springboard diving. Dahl was a bricklayer and carpenter before his service in World War II. After his military service, Dahl returned to Hamburg in 1946, and performed as a clown and circus artist. He already showed talent in tightrope walking, which would later make him famous. Starting in 1949, he became a stuntman. In 1952 he was hired by German director

Kurt Hoffmann Kurt Hoffmann (12 November 1910 – 25 June 2001) was a German film director, the son of Carl Hoffmann Carl Hoffmann (9 June 1885, in Neisse – 13 July 1947) was a German cinematographer and film director. Selected filmography Cinemat ...

for the comedy '' Klettermaxe'' (translated “Climber”), where Dahl would be the stunt double for the film’s lead actor

Albert Lieven Albert Lieven (born Albert Fritz Liévin; 22 June 1906 – 22 December 1971) was a German actor. Early life Lieven was born in Hohenstein, East Prussia (Olszynek, Poland). His father was the head physician of the Tuberculosis sanatorium Hoh ...

. Dahl became the first German stuntman in the postwar era. He was featured in about 40 productions, playing the stunt double for actors like

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in '' Des Teufels Gen ...

and

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Dou ...

. In 1959, Dahl found international attention when he walked the railing on the roof of the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, finishing with a handstand. He received the same amount of attention when he jumped from the crane in the Harbor of

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelms ...

, during which he broke his spine and spent the following year in the hospital. During his time as a stuntman, Dahl suffered more than 100 bones fractures, and spent a total of 4 years of his life in the hospital. For a short time in the 1960s, Dahl worked as a host of multiple children and youth television programs. In 1992, at the age of 70, Dahl retired into his private life. Dahl died on August 3, 1998 as a result of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

. He is buried at the city cemetery in Holm, Germany.

Selected filmography

*'' Only One Night'' (1950) * '' The Girl from the South Seas'' (1950) *'' Klettermaxe'' (1952) *''Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne'' (1952) *'' Two Bavarians in the Harem'' (1957), as Toni *''

Der Schinderhannes ''Der Schinderhannes'' is a 1958 film directed by Helmut Käutner, starring Curd Jürgens and Maria Schell. It was also known as ''Duel in the Forest''. The story depicts the life of the 18th century outlaw Schinderhannes. It is based on a 1927 pl ...

'' (1958), as Roter Fink *''Wegen Reichtums geschlossen'' (1968)

Literature

* Herbert G. Hegedo: ''Arnim Dahl genannt Klettermaxe'', Balve: Engelbert-Verlag, 1964. * Eckhard Wendt: ''Stettiner Lebensbilder.'' Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Pommern, Reihe V, Band 40. Böhlau Verlag, Köln Weimar Wien 2004, , S. 118–119. * "''Dahl lebt gefährlich''". Titelgeschichte de
SPIEGEL vom 7. Januar 1953

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahl, Arnim German stunt performers 1922 births 1998 deaths People from Szczecin People from the Province of Pomerania Südwestrundfunk people