Ferdy Mayne

Ferdy Mayne (11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German actor.

Early life
He was born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel, in Mainz, Germany. His German father was the Judge of Mayence, and his half-English mother gave singing lessons. Because his family was Jewish, he was sent to England to protect him from the Nazis; and he stayed with his aunt, the photographer and sculptress Lee Hutchinson. His parents were detained in Buchenwald but, because of his mother's connections, were able to leave Germany for England. When World War II broke out, he worked as an informant for MI5. Significant clues to his work for MI5 were provided by Joan Miller in her posthumously published memoir One Girl's War (1986). He had also acted as a witness at Miller's marriage in 1945.

Career
Mayne appeared in 230 films and TV shows. In 1967, he became world famous by starring as Count von Krolock in Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers. In 1977, he appeared in the It Pays To Advertise episode of Are You Being Served? in the role of "The Ten Pound Perfume". In that episode, he purchased a bottle of perfume for 10 British pounds and shocked Mrs. Slocombe when he told her in a somewhat effeminate voice that he wasn't buying it for his wife but for himself. He then strutted off in a stereotypical homosexual way. Mayne would later move to America and have a semi-regular role as "Albert Grand" in the Cagney and Lacey television series.

Selected filmography

 * Meet Sexton Blake (1945)
 * Hotel Sahara (1951)
 * The Blue Parrot (1953)
 * You Know What Sailors Are (1954)
 * Third Party Risk (1954)
 * Value for Money (1955)
 * The Narrowing Circle (1956)
 * The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
 * The End of the Line (1957)
 * Our Man in Havana (1959)
 * Ben-Hur (1959)
 * The Spider's Web (1960)
 * The Green Helmet (1961)
 * Three Spare Wives (1962)
 * The Password Is Courage (1962)
 * Operation Crossbow (1965)
 * Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
 * Promise Her Anything (1965)
 * The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
 * The Bobo (1967)
 * Les grandes vacances (1967)
 * Gates to Paradise (1968)
 * Where Eagles Dare (1968)
 * The Best House in London (1969)
 * The Magic Christian (1969)
 * The Adventurers (1970)
 * The Walking Stick (1970)
 * The Vampire Lovers (1970)
 * When Eight Bells Toll (1971)
 * Von Richthofen and Brown (1971)
 * Eagle in a Cage (1972)
 * Innocent Bystanders (1972)
 * Barry Lyndon (1975)
 * The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
 * Fedora (1978)
 * Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
 * Hawk the Slayer (1980)
 * The Formula (1980)
 * Frightmare (1983)
 * The Black Stallion Returns (1983)
 * Yellowbeard (1983)
 * The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud (1984)
 * Conan the Destroyer (1984)
 * Night Train to Terror (1985)
 * Pirates (1986)
 * Knight Moves (1992)
 * Warlock: The Armageddon (1993)

Personal life
In 1955, Mayne married Deirdre de Payer. Their daughter Belinda Mayne, born on October 2, 1954, became an actress as well. They also adopted a daughter, Fernanda, in 1965. The couple divorced in 1972. In the 1990s, Mayne suffered from Parkinson's disease, from which he died on 30 January 1998 in London.