Actors - Wilhelm Von Homburg

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	Actors - Wilhelm Von Homburg

6 foot 3 inched Norbert Grupe AKA Wilhelm Von Homburg was born on the 25th August 1940 in the German capital Berlin, in the 1950's after the Second World War Grupe took up Pro Wrestling where he toured Germany and the United States. It was in the U.S. where he dropped his real name Norbert Grupe for marketing reasons, due to his last name being pronounced Groupie. The name Wilhelm Von Homburg was born

In the early sixties, Homberg decided to go from pro wrestling to boxing, where over the span of eight years he had 46 bouts with 29 wins in the light heavyweight and heavy weight classes.

In 1965, Homburg made his screen debut with a small role in World War II epic Morituri
along side the late Marlon Brando. The following year he appeared in another war film, Torn Curtain
, with Paul Newman where he also had a small part.

After being defeated in the boxing ring by Oscar Bonavena in 1969, Homburg made an appearance on German TV the next day. After the reporter Rainer Günzler had made some snide remarks about his boxing career and his flamboyant lifestyle, Homburg sat through the 10 minute live interview not answering any of Günzler's questions, only putting on a sarcastic smile that is later seen in 1989 film Ghostbusters 2.

Homburg appeared in a number of films up till the 1980’s with really only small roles in films like The Wrecking Crew with Sharon Tate and Dean Martin where Homburg plays Gregor. After 1977, Homburg's career in movies dried up where for a short amount of time Homburg spent time in jail for physical injury and activities in prostitution. It has been reported that Homburg spent about five years behind bars in his life. In 1988 Homburg made his big screen return in action thriller Die Hard
with Alan Rickman and Andreas Wisniewski. Homberg plays James, a part of the German terrorist group that plans to rob the Nakatomi Tower; unfortunately Homberg is only seen in three scenes of the film where he ends up meeting his demise courteous of a DIY bomb from John McClane (Bruce Willis). From there Homburg appeared in the 1989 movie blockbuster sequel Ghostbusters II
where he plays deranged painting Vigo, a role for which Homburg is probably most well known and recognised. After Ghostbusters II, Homberg appeared in a hand full of films up to 1994 where he appeared in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness
playing Simon.

In his later years Homburg lived in Los Angeles and toured the area together with his dog in an old VW Camper Van.

On the 10th of March, 2004, Wilhelm Von Homburg passed away in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, of cancer, only four years before German moviemaker Gerd Kroske produced a prize winning documentary on Homburg's life called Boxprinz, Der (2002).

Some people think that Wilhelm Von Homburg’s life resembled the one of British wrestler-come-actor Pat Roach, who also started his career as a wrestler, had small parts in Hollywood blockbusters and died of cancer.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Wilhelm Von Homburg ]

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