Friedrich von Ledebur

Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln ((1900-06-03)3 June 1900 – (1986-12-25)25 December 1986) was an Austrian actor who was known for Moby Dick (1956), Alexander the Great (1955) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1972).

Friedrich von Ledebur
Born
Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln

(1900-06-03)3 June 1900
Nisko, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Died25 December 1986(1986-12-25) (aged 86)
Linz, Austria
Years active1945–1982
Known forActor in Moby Dick, Alexander the Great (1955) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
Height6 ft 7 in (201 cm) [1]
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1934, divorced)​
    Gräfin Alice Hoyos von Stichsenstein
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1955)​
    Children2

    Early life

    Ledebur was born in Nisko, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Poland) in 1900. Friedrich enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1916, and was an officer in the Austrian Cavalry Division during the last years of World War I.

    Interwar period

    In the 1930s Ledebur became a close friend of Charles Bedaux, with whom he traveled extensively in Africa and Canada.[2] After the war, Ledebur spent the next two decades travelling the world, working all manner of odd jobs from gold mining to deep sea diving, to riding and winning prize money at rodeos. Ledebur settled in the United States in 1939 and anglicised his name to 'Frederick'. A close friendship with fellow adventurer and director John Huston, gave Ledebur his entrée to character acting.[3]

    Acting career
    Friedrich von Ledebur as Queequeg in Moby Dick

    In 1945, von Ledebur made his film debut. He later appeared in Alexander the Great (1955), and played chief harpooneer Queequeg, a South Sea chieftain, in the film Moby Dick (1956). "Better a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian", Herman Melville's Ishmael famously says of Queequeg in the book and the film. He appeared as Brother Christophorus in The Twilight Zone episode "The Howling Man".

    Selected filmography

    References
    1. For his height, e. g. see photos in The Man Who Turned to Stone
    2. 'The Champagne Safari (1995) on IMDb entry
    3. Mowis, I. S. "Friedrich von Ledebur". IMDb. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
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