Anecdotes

In the 1960s, Italian Swiss Colony wine producers chose him to be their advertising spokesman. Dressed in an Alpine hat and lederhosen, his motto was that he was "That Little Old Winemaker, Me!" in a series of commercials that spanned a decade. The irony was that Stossel in real life was a longtime connoisseur of fine wines, and would normally never have had anything to do with a low-priced, mass-produced wine such as Italian Swiss Colony.

As the winemaker in the Italian Swiss Colony commercials, his "little old winemaker...me!" line was actually dubbed by none other than Jim Backus.

Died on January 29, 1973 in Beverly Hills after a fall, just fourteen days short of his 90th birthday. He was cremated at Groman Mortuary in Hollywood Forever, and his ashes were sent to Vienna, Austria.

He was driven out of Germany when the Nazis came to power because of his Jewish origin. He went to Austria and appeared in a few movies but his main activity was at the theater. He was engaged at the Raimundtheater and at the Theater in der Josefstadt.

After Nazi Germany invaded and took over Austria in the 1938 "Anschluß , Stössel was imprisoned several times before he was able to escape Vienna and get to Paris. He and his wife, Lore Birn, eventually reached London.

From 1953-63, he appeared as a guest in a number of television shows, including an episode of The New Phil Silvers Show (1963) in which he parodied his Gallo wine television commercials character of "The Little Old Winemaker".

He became a successful character actor and played for the most important stages of Germany, including the Max Reinhardt in Berlin, the Barnowsky-Bühne and the German Künstlertheater. Moreover he managed the Thalia-Theater in Breslau together with Paul Barnay.

Began performing on the stage in Austria and Germany when he was only 17.

Although the war was over in Europe long ago he didn't return to Germany. He stood in the USA which became his second home.

When the National Socialism arrived in Austria in 1938 he emigrated together with his wife via Paris and London to Hollywood. There he was able to continue his film career as a support actor in many American movies.

As it was usual in the USA in those days the victims of the National Socialists had to play their tormentors. Ludwig Stössel acted in some propaganda movies against Hitler like "The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler" (1943) and "Hitler's Madman" (1943). Stössel didn't let this nail him down to such movies and he took part in many other genres.

He played Pichler in the Carl Boese's comedy Heimkehr ins Glück (1933) (Homecoming to Happiness). This would be his last movie in Germany.

Ludwig Stössel came relatively late to the film. His first movie being "In der Heimat, da gibt's ein Wiedersehn!" (1926).

He appeared in Return to Yesterday (1940) and Dead Man's Shoes (1940) before heading to Hollywood in 1939.

He began his career at the theater where he made his first experiences at Josef Jarno.