Harry Meyen

Harry Meyen

Harry Meyen was born Harald Haubenstock on August 31, 1924 in Hamburg, Germany.

He was a German Film Actor that appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1948 and 1975.

Meyen was the Son of a a Non-Jewish Mother and a  Jewish Merchant who was deported to a Concentration Camp by the Nazis.

In 1942, 18-year-old Meyen himself was incarcerated as a Mischling (meaning Half-Breed or Half-Jewish) and survived the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. He was liberated by the Americans on May 3, 1945.

After the War, he began his career with Willy Maertens at the Hamburg Thalia Theater. From 1952 he performed at the Theater Aachen and from 1955 moved to Berlin. Also starring in films directed by Helmut Käutner, Falk Harnack and Wolfgang Staudte, he played the role of a young Luftwaffe officer in the 1955 movie Des Teufels General side by side with Curd Jürgens.

He also worked as a dubbing actor giving his voice to Dirk Bogarde, Robert Mitchum, Michel Piccoli, Peter Sellers, and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

He is best known for his role in the 1966 Film “Is Paris Burning?” where he played Lieutenant von Arnim (the Assistant to General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz, the German Military Governor of Paris.)

From 1953 to 1966 he was married to Actress Anneliese Römer. In July 1966 he married Romy Schneider in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Their son David Christopher was born December 3, 1966; the Family lived in Berlin and later in Hamburg. The couple finally divorced in 1975, and Schneider took their Son with her to France.

Meyen suffered from Depression, his condition caused by the torture he had received from the Nazis for being half-Jewish during the War.

On April 15, 1979, Meyen hanged himself at home in Hamburg. He is buried in the Ohlsdorf Cemetery. His Son David died in an accident in 1981 and his Ex-Wife Romy Schneider died of a heart attack in 1982.