Joseph Furst

Joseph Fürst (13 February 1916 – 29 November 2005) was an Austrian-born international film and television actor known for his English language roles in Britain and Australia, after first appearing on the Canadian stage.[1]

Joseph Fürst
in Doctor Who:The Underwater Menace (1967)
Born	Joseph Fürst 13 February 1916 Vienna, Austria
Died	29 November 2005 (aged 89) Bateau Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–1986

Career

Fürst was regularly featured in UK television drama series of the 1960s and early 1970s with appearances in The Saint, The Champions, Doomwatch, The Persuaders!, and as the mad (and well remembered) Professor Zaroff in the Doctor Who story The Underwater Menace.[2] Many people believe his accent in this role to have been put on; this is incorrect, it was in fact his real accent.[3] He also played the role of Schneider in the Armchair Theatre play "A Magnum for Schneider", which launched Edward Woodward as the character of Callan. (The play led to the highly regarded Callan TV series.)[4]

Fürst's notable film appearances included 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971) as Dr Metz,[5][6] and Inn of the Damned (1975).[1]

He emigrated to Australia and, starting in the mid-1970s, acted in several guest roles on Australian television drama series. They included several appearances in the top-rated police drama Division 4, produced by Crawford Productions in the 1970s. He played an ongoing role in soap opera Number 96 in 1976 as deli owner Carlo Lenzi, who was introduced to the series as a new Italian family alongside Arianthe Galani[7] and Harry Michaels, his character romanced wine bar proprietor Norma Whittaker (Sheila Kennelly). He also played Heinrik Smeaton in The Young Doctors in 1979, and was a guest on situation comedy Kingswood Country, again opposite Kennelly.[8][9] He guest starred in four episodes of A Country Practice in the early 1980s.[10] In 1984, he starred in the ABC TV film The Schippan Mystery.[11]

Shortly before his death, Fürst was interviewed by Dwayne Bunney and Dallas Jones for "Loose Cannon" and spoke about his career. The interview was an extra feature in the reconstruction of the missing Doctor Who story "The Underwater Menace".[12][13]

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Exodus	Avidan
1961	Offbeat	Paul Vama
1961	Very Important Person	Luftwaffe interrogator
1962	Freud: The Secret Passion	Herr Jacob Koertner
1963	55 Days at Peking	Capt. Hanselman
1964	The High Bright Sun	Dr. Andros
1966	The Brides of Fu Manchu	Otto Lentz
1966	Drop Dead Darling	German Brasshat
1967	Theatre of Death	Karl Schiller
1968	Hammerhead	Count Ortega
1970	Eyewitness	Local Police Sergeant
1970	Goodbye Gemini	Georgiu
1971	Diamonds Are Forever	Professor Dr. Metz
1973	And Millions Will Die	Franz Kessler
1975	Plugg	Judge, Fraudenheist
1975	Inn of the Damned	Lazar Straulle

References

1. "Joseph Furst".
2. "Joseph Fürst". www.aveleyman.com.
3. "BBC - Doctor Who - Classic Series - Photonovels - The Underwater Menace". www.bbc.co.uk.
4. "BFI Screenonline: Magnum for Schneider, A (1967)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
5. "Joseph Furst - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie". AllMovie.
6. "Diamonds Are Forever - TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
7. Giles, Nigel "NUMBER 96: Australian TV's Most Notorious Address" 2007 by Melbourne Books ISBN 978-1-925556-00-1
8. "Stars of The Young Doctors back 50,000+ fans for DVD release". 19 September 2014.
9. "Kingswood Country – There's No Place Like Rome". australianscreen.
10. "Australian Television: A Country Practice: episode guide: 1982". www.australiantelevision.net.
11. "The Schippan Mystery (1984) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia". www.screenaustralia.gov.au.
12. "The Nethersphere Vol 1 No 3". issuu. 8 November 2015. p. 22. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
13. "The Underwater Menace (TV)". 16 December 2013.

External links

• Joseph Fürst at IMDb