Albert Paulsen

Albert Paulsen's pronounced accent and clipped manner may have marked him as German, Austrian or some East European nationality--roles he played often--but he was actually born in Guyaquil, Ecuador, in 1925. Although he did appear in some films and on stage, he was mainly a television actor, with numerous appearances in dramas and action shows, especially in such series as Mission: Impossible (1966) and Combat! (1962), and played a succession of Communist spies, Russian generals, East European dictators, Nazi officers and the like. However, he did show up once on the comedy series The Odd Couple (1970) playing a European opera star who wasn't quite as uptight as everyone thought he was. He died in his sleep in Los Angeles, CA, in 2004.