Biografia

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.