Biography
Karlheinz Böhm (also credited as Karl-Heinz Böhm, Carl Böhm and similar variants) was a German-born Austrian actor. He appeared in around 45 films between 1948 and 1976, beginning his career on stage in Germany before moving into cinema.
He became well known in Austria and Germany for playing Emperor Franz Joseph I opposite Romy Schneider in the Sissi film trilogy (1955–1957). Internationally, he is recognised for his role as the psychopathic protagonist Mark Lewis in Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom (1960). Between 1974 and 1975 he appeared in four consecutive films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including Martha, Effi Briest, Fox and His Friends (as Max) and Mother Küsters’ Trip to Heaven.
Böhm founded the charity Menschen für Menschen in 1981 and was active in development work in Ethiopia, receiving honorary Ethiopian citizenship in 2003 and the Balzan Prize in 2007.
