From the S&S archives: Gert Frobe: 'Find the middle'

"I'M NOT so good nude or as an Indian," explained portly Gert Frobe.

The red-haired actor cited this as the reason why he hasn't made a German film in over five years.

"I'm a character actor and the trend today in my country is toward sex and cowboy films," he added.

However, Frobe confides he likes doing American movies, which he first started doing in 1964, when he harassed 007 James Bond, as the villainous "Goldfinger."

A former artist and cabaret performer, Frobe speaks French fluently and has made 13 Gallic movies.

HE MADE his movie debut as a comic in "Berliner Ballade" in 1948. "I was very thin then," he recalled.

Shortly after, he said he received his first "American" publicity via The Stars and Stripes. "I still have the clipping at home."

Frobe originally came from Saxony, now in East Germany, in 1933, at the age of 20, as a circus performer whose specialty was a balancing act.

On the set, he demonstrates his skill by balancing a tall heavy metal ash-tray on his chin: "I am able to balance 11 chairs on my chin now."

He continued, "The secret is to find the middle. Each piece has a center or balance. You must feel for this and you can balance all things."

On weekends, Frobe retreats to his home in Munich, where his neighbor is long-time friend Curt Jurgens, with whom he attended drama school in the thirties.

Among Frobe's American films are "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines," "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang" and "Monte Carlo Rally."