Biografie

Held a top secret security clearance for a while as he was narrating Operation Hardtack reports for the United States military for the development of nuclear weapons.

Won Broadway's 1956 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Damn Yankees!", a role he recreated in the film version of the same name, Damn Yankees (1958).

Replaced Peter Sellers in Küss mich, Dummkopf (1964) after Sellers had suffered a heart attack mere weeks into the production.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 7070 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 8, 1995.

Had appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Das Appartement (1960) and Der Clou (1973).

I never should have done Mein Onkel vom Mars (1963). I didn't work in television or film for three years after. Everyone thought of me as a Martian. Do you know what it's like to go to Madrid, Spain, on vacation and have a guy yell out, "Hey, Martin!" and put antennas behind his head? When that happens, you know your career is dead.

(on his thoughts after four episodes of Mein Onkel vom Mars (1963)) I thought, "What am I doing here? I'm running around with two pieces of wire coming out of my head. I must be crazy.".

(his 1995 Emmy Award acceptance speech) I have 30 seconds to tell you I have been waiting 60 years to get on this stage.

(on being labeled a character actor) I'm an actor and that's it -- period. Producers and studios have thrown many things at me over the years: comedy, tragedy, drama, drawing-room comedy. I've managed to keep my head above water in most of these genres, but I don't put myself in any one category like "comic actor" or "musical-comedy" actor.

Mein Onkel vom Mars (1963) ended after three years, because the people at the top killed the goose that laid the golden egg. They didn't know how to keep the goose alive.