- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- Mad Russian
- Leonid Kinsky
- Leonid Kinskey, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, performed across Europe and much of Latin America before his arrival in the United States. By 1932 he landed a small role as a radical in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy, Trouble in Paradise (1932). The next year he played an agitator in Duck Soup (1933). He went on to play small parts, nearly always foreigners and often comedic, in over sixty films, including Genflou in Les Misérables (1935), the snake charmer in the well-known scene from The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), an Arab in The Garden of Allah (1936), Ivan in The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938), and Pierre in That Night in Rio (1941). His final film role was Dominiwski in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Kinskey's most famous role was as Sascha, the humorous bartender at Rick's Cafe Americaine, in Casablanca (1942). The part had originally been given to Leon Mostovoy; Kinskey replaced him because (1) he was funnier than Mostovoy, and (2) by his own testimony, he was a drinking buddy of the star Humphrey Bogart. His contract guaranteed him two weeks at $750 a week. He died on 8 September 1998, in Fountain Hills, Arizona, aged 95.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
- SpousesTina York(1985 - September 8, 1998) (his death)Iphigenie Castiglioni(August 15, 1942 - July 30, 1963) (her death)Josephine Zossia Tankus(March 25, 1930 - August 9, 1939) (her death)
- Was supposed to be one of the "heroes" of Hogan's Heroes (1965). He is in the pilot episode only, The Informer (1965). He decided not to be in the series because he didn't believe that one could have a comedy take place in a German PJOW camp.
- Emigrated from Russia after the Communist Revolution of 1917, worked in Europe, then went to Hollywood, and became a character actor, and eventually became a US citizen.
- Married Iphigenie Castiglioni four times. 'It started in Mexico City", he said, "and then over 20 years of our happy marriage we celebrated every five years by taking a new marriage license in a different country".
- During the Second World War, as part of a cultural exchange program, he was choosing Hollywood movies for showing in the USSR.
- Along with Bing Crosby, introduced the song "I'm an Old Cowhand (from the Rio Grande)" in Rhythm on the Range (1936).
- On why he turned down a regular part on Hogan's Heroes (1965): "The premise to me was both false and offensive. The Nazis were seldom dumb and never funny."
- [on why he turned down a regular part on Hogan's Heroes (1965)] The premise to me was both false and offensive. The Nazis were seldom dumb and never funny.
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