Günter Meisner

Günter Meisner (18 April 1928 – 5 December 1994 ) was a German film and television character actor.

He is remembered for his several cinematic portrayals of Adolf Hitler and for his role as Arthur Slugworth in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

He was fluent in four languages (German, French, Italian & English) and appeared in many English-language, German-language and French-language films.

Born in Bremen, Meisner briefly worked at a steel foundry before training as a radio operator with the Luftwaffe's Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers).

After the war, though he was interested in a career in sculpture and painting, in 1948 he switched to drama and studied under Gustaf Gründgens at Düsseldorf's State Conservatory, where he also got his first job at the local Schauspielhaus.

Meisner often played stock character Nazi officers and other sinister characters.

Meisner founded the Gallery Diogenes in Berlin in 1959, and in 1961 he founded the International Association for Arts and Sciences.

In 1962 Meisner established the Diogenes Studio Theater.

From 1967 to 1969 Meisner participated in relief efforts in Biafra, Nigeria.

He also produced two films: Don't Look for Me in Places Where I Can't Be Found and Bega Dwa Bega (One for All), a Swahili-language film for the Tanzanian Film Unit.

Wilkinson in the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

He also appeared in several television commercials.

He portrayed Hitler in the 1982 Franco-German action comedy, L'as des as (Ace of Aces).

He also appeared in the ABC television miniseries, The Winds of War (miniseries) as well as the CBS miniseries, Blood and Honor and Southern Television's Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years.

Other films Meisner took part in were Is Paris Burning?, The Quiller Memorandum, Funeral in Berlin, and The Boys from Brazil.

He was Mr. Slugworth/Mr.

Meisner died in Berlin on 5 December 1994 at the age of 66 of heart failure.

He is buried in Berlin's Friedhof Heerstraße Cemetery.