John van Dreelen

Overview

The son of a celebrated Dutch actor, John Van Dreelen may have come by his debonair countenance with a bit of help from his continental pedigree. Fluent in several languages, he was reported to have escaped a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Holland by disguising himself as one of the German officers he would later play so often on both big and small screens.

Though he bookended and sprinkled his career with appearances in many European films, Van Dreelen is best remembered as an A-list guest star in dozens of American television shows from the early 1960s to the mid-'80s. Never a major player in American theatrical films, he nonetheless scored a few choice roles, including the Danish concert pianist who rescues and woos Lana Turner during an extended sequence in Madame X (1966). Van Dreelen also enjoyed an international stage career and starred in the original American touring production of "The Sound of Music." Despite his close identification with despotic roles, he also easily breezed through light drama and comedy and cut a dashing and memorable figure in 1960s pop culture oeuvre.
- IMDb mini biography by: David Durrett (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

During WWII, he escaped the Emslandlager labor camp near Papenburg by disguising himself as a German officer after he managed to grab a uniform from the audience cloakroom.
Fluent in Dutch, English, French, German and Italian.
Played Capt. Von Trapp in the first national tour of "The Sound of Music" opposite Jeannie Carson and later Barbara Meister. He was considered composer Richard Rodgers' first choice to play the movie role that eventually went to Christopher Plummer.
Was invited by Laurence Olivier to co-star in his 1950 production of "Daphne Laureola". He changed his name from Jacques van Drielen Gimberg to John Van Dreelen. Following a tour of England, the play landed briefly in New York. Restrictive immigration laws made it impossible for him to stay in the US and he went back to Europe. He returned years later and made his US film debut in A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958). Director Douglas Sirk was reportedly instrumental in helping Van Dreelen and his wife emigrate to the US.
Played Audrey Hepburn's husband in both the English and French versions of the little-seen We Go to Monte Carlo (1953).