Robert Graf (November 18, 1923 – February 4, 1966) was a German actor who played the role of Werner, "The Ferret" in the 1963 movie '' The Great Escape''. Graf was born in

Witten, Germany Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr (river), Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr, Ruhr area. Bordering mun ...

in 1923. In 1942, after completing his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

, he was conscripted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

and sent to the Eastern Front. He was wounded in 1944, and assigned to war production duties in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where he began his study of theater. In 1952, Graf married the actress

Selma Urfer Selma Urfer (born 30 March 1928 in Bern, Switzerland; died 2 May 2013 in Munich) was a Swiss author, translator and actress. She graduated from the Zurich School of Drama in 1948. In addition to acting and studio recordings, she published numerous ...

and had three children. He was the father of the director

Dominik Graf Dominik Graf (born 6 September 1952) is a German film director. He studied film direction at University of Television and Film Munich, from where he graduated in 1975. While he has directed several theatrically released feature films since the 198 ...

. Robert Graf died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in Munich in 1966 at age 42.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Robert Graf Bio on Filmportal.de
1923 births 1966 deaths People from Witten German male film actors German male television actors 20th-century German male actors Deaths from cancer in Germany German Army personnel of World War II Male actors from North Rhine-Westphalia {{Germany-screen-actor-stub