Richard Marner


Richard Marner was a British actor. He was best known for his role as Colonel Erik von Strohm in the British sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!.

Early life

Born in Petrograd, Russian SFSR, Molchanoff was the eldest son of Colonel Pavel Molchanoff, of the Semyonovsky Regiment, one of two that were set up for children of children who had played with Peter the Great of Russia. In 1924, his entire family left the Soviet Union and went to Finland and then Germany, before ending up in Britain and London, where Alexander's grandmother, author Olga Novikoff lived in Harley Street.
After being educated at Monmouth School in Wales, Molchanoff became an assistant to the Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing, where he performed at Covent Garden. During World War II, he joined the RAF, and was posted to South Africa with the Air Training Corps. After being invalided out, he changed his name to Richard Marner and began his long and successful career as an actor.

Career

One of Marner's early stage roles – as Dracula, with Howard Dean – is still regarded by some as the definitive interpretation of the role. In 1967, well before his role as the German Colonel in 'Allo 'Allo! Marner played the minor and uncredited role of a German sentry in the classic war film The Dirty Dozen. His other films include Ice Cold in Alex, The One That Got Away, The Password Is Courage, You Only Live Twice, The Boys from Brazil, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The African Queen and the Swiss film Four in a Jeep, in which he did all the Russian dialogue. He was also in the television movie Birth of the Beatles, as Bruno Koschmider.
Marner's best known role was in 'Allo 'Allo! as German Commandant Colonel Kurt Von Strohm. He appeared in all nine series of the programme between 1984 and 1992. He also appeared in an episode of Secret Army, the programme that 'Allo 'Allo! parodies.
An early TV role was his 1960 appearance in Danger Man in the first season episode entitled "The Girl in the Pink Pyjamas" as an anaesthetist.
His other work included roles in The Protectors, Mackenzie, Triangle, Lovejoy, and the film The Sum of All Fears.
Marner starred as a disgruntled father in the Gorbachev Pizza Hut commercial, starring the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 1991, when the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, convened a "Congress of Compatriots", Marner was one of the 600 people who returned to the motherland. Despite being caught up in an attempted coup, he stayed long enough to watch, through tearful eyes, the raising of the first Imperial Russian flag flown in Moscow since 1917.

Personal life and death

Marner was fluent in Russian, English, French and German.
Marner married Pauline Pfarr in London in 1947. In 1958, the couple had a daughter together.
The couple first retired to Kentford, near Newmarket in Suffolk, before moving to a cottage in Perthshire in 2003.
Marner died on 18 March 2004 in Perth, Scotland, aged 82 from bronchopneumonia. Pfarr died on 21 May 2009, aged 91.

Selected filmography

Highly Dangerous – Soldier on Train Lilli Marlene – SS ColonelAppointment with Venus – 2nd German CorporalThe African Queen – Second Officer of Fort ShonaTop Secret – Russian SentryNever Let Me Go – Toasting Russian Officer Park Plaza 605 – BarkovMask of Dust – Hans Brecht – racerOh... Rosalinda!! – Col. LebotovThe Master Plan – Man The Man Who Knew Too Much – Aide to Prime Minister Reach for the Sky – German Officer in Staff Car Ill Met by Moonlight – German Officer with Gen. Brauer Miracle in Soho – KarlThe One That Got Away – German PrisonerThe Safecracker – German N.C.ONo Time to Die – German colonelIce Cold in Alex – German GuardThe Inn of the Sixth Happiness – Russian Soldier The Square Peg – Hauptmann Schmidt A Touch of Larceny – Russian Officer Cornered by Max Easton Beyond the Curtain – Russian Officer A Circle of Deception – German colonelVery Important Person – German Guard Invasion Quartet – German Soldier The Pursuers – AransonThe Password Is Courage – SchmidtThe Mouse on the Moon – Russian Air Force GeneralChildren of the Damned – Russian Embassy official Ring of Spies – Colonel Monat Operation Crossbow – SS Sergeant The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – Vopo CaptainWhere the Spies Are – JosefYou Only Live Twice – Russian Controller The Dirty Dozen – German Sentry at Chateau Isadora – Le silencieux Tiffany Jones – VorjakQB VII – Wladislaw KranzThe Internecine Project – German delegateThe Girl from Petrovka – Kremlin Press OfficialNot Now, Comrade – RussianThe Boys from Brazil – Emil DoringAvalanche Express – Field Marshal PrachkoBirth of the Beatles – Club BossThe Last Horror Film – Screening Room JuryNutcracker – PopovPandora's Clock The Sum of All Fears – President Zorkin