Gertan Klauber

Born

1932-03-05

Died

2008-08-01

Birthplace

Czechoslovakia

Biography

George Gertan Klauber (5 March 1932 – 1 August 2008) was a Czech-born British actor, known for playing various character parts in films and television programmes, particularly the Carry On comedies. Of Sudeten German and Jewish descent, Klauber was born in Czechoslovakia in 1932, and moved to the United Kingdom prior to the outbreak of World War II. He studied drama at the Birmingham School of Acting (now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire). He appeared in numerous television productions, often playing minor villains, including episodes of The Saint, The Professionals, Danger Man, The Avengers, twice in Doctor Who as The Galley Master in The Romans and as Ola in The Macra Terror and as mad king George III in Blackadder the Third. He appeared in the TV musical Pickwick for the BBC in 1969. He also played a servile yet pompous waiter in one episode, "The Old Magic", of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? Klauber was one of the regular recurring cast members of the Carry On films, appearing in seven films total (one uncredited). He usually played small roles, cast when the producers wanted someone big and sinister, or big and jovial, but had a prominent part as 'Marcus' in Carry On Cleo (1964). He appeared in two James Bond films: Octopussy (1983) and The Living Daylights (1987), though he was uncredited for the latter. His last film role was as a pimp in the Beatles biopic Backbeat (1994).