Leonid Kinskey
| Leonid Kinskey | |
|---|---|
|
as Sascha in Casablanca | |
| Born |
18 April 1903 St. Petersburg, Russia |
| Died |
8 September 1998 (aged 95) Fountain Hills, Arizona, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1932–1971 |
| Spouse(s) |
Tina York (1983-1998; his death) Iphigenie Castiglioni (?-1963; her death) |
Leonid Kinskey (18 April 1903 – 8 September 1998) was a Russian-born film and television actor who enjoyed a long career. Kinskey is best known for his role as Sascha in the film Casablanca (1942).[1]
Life and career
Kinskey was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He fled the Russian Revolution and acted on stage in Europe and South America before arriving in New York City in 1921. He joined the road production of Al Jolson's musical Wonder Bar, before making his first film appearance, in Trouble in Paradise (1932).[1] His looks and accent helped him gain supporting roles in several movies, including the Sylvanian "agitator" in the Marx Bros. film Duck Soup (1933). He told Aljean Harmetz, author of Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca, that he was cast in his best-known role, Sascha in Casablanca, because he was a drinking buddy of star Humphrey Bogart.[1] He replaced Leo Mostovoy[2] because the latter was deemed not funny enough.[1]
Kinskey continued to appear on television, well into the 1960s and was in the pilot episode of Hogan's Heroes (1965). He decided not to join the cast when the show went into formal production because he was not comfortable playing opposite people pretending to be Nazis.[3]
Kinskey married three times. His second wife was actress Iphigenie Castiglioni, to whom he remained married until her death in 1963. He was married to Tina York from 1983 to his death. He died of complications of a stroke in Fountain Hills, Arizona, at the age of 95.
Partial filmography
- The Big Broadcast (1932)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Girl Without a Room (1933)
- Manhattan Melodrama (1934) (uncredited)
- The Merry Widow (1934) (uncredited)
- The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) (uncredited)
- Les Misérables (1935)
- The Road to Glory (1936)
- Rhythm on the Range (1936)
- The General Died at Dawn (1936)
- The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936)
- Cafe Metropole (1937)
- Make a Wish (1937)
- My Dear Miss Aldrich (1937)
- Nothing Sacred (1937) (uncredited)
- The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) (uncredited)
- Three Blind Mice (1938)
- Algiers (1938)
- The Great Waltz (1938)
- The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
- Exile Express (1939)
- On Your Toes (1939)
- Day-Time Wife (1939)
- Everything Happens at Night (1939)
- Down Argentine Way (1940)
- So Ends Our Night (1941)
- That Night in Rio (1941)
- Broadway Limited (1941)
- Week-End in Havana (1941)
- Ball of Fire (1941)
- Lady for a Night (1942)
- Brooklyn Orchid (1942)
- I Married an Angel (1942)
- The Talk of the Town (1942)
- Casablanca (1942)
- Cinderella Swings It (1943)
- El circo (1943)
- Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
- Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943)
- The Fighting Seabees (1944)
- Can't Help Singing (1944)
- Monsieur Beaucaire (1946)
- Alimony (1949)
- The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
- Glory (1956)
References
- 1 2 3 4 Lawrence Van Gelder (12 September 1998). "Leonid Kinskey, 95, Bartender in 'Casablanca'". The New York Times.
- ↑ Leo Mostovoy at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ "Hogan’s Heroes’ unceremonious finale comes from the era before TV “endgames”". Retrieved 2015-05-25.
External links
- Leonid Kinskey at the Internet Movie Database
- Leonid Kinskey at the Internet Broadway Database
- Leonid Kinskey at Find a Grave
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