Remembering Nico Turoff

Nikolai ‘Nico’ Turoff was born Nikolai Turow on December 6, 1899 in Kremetschuk, Russian Empire. Nikolai fled Russia as a result of the October Revolution in 1917 to Germany, where he started a career as a boxer. After his last fight in Madrid 1925, he changed his profession and became a film actor.

 

Equipped with a brawny stature and a powerful, edgy skull, Turoff was predestined for powerful characters of all types. Turoff embodied consistently down home types and hands-on workers, including often times crooks. He received a rare starring role in early 1930 alongside Grete Mosheim in Hans Tintner’s social drama “Cyankali”.

 

The Propaganda of the Third Reich cinema very often cast him as a sinister negative figure. In 1945 Turoff was seen in DEFA productions often playing proletarian types. In the GDR, he was one of the busiest small actors in film; However, his parts were rarely beyond character roles and soon he was often not even credited by name.

 

Turoff appeared in three Euro-westerns: “Fatal Error” (1969) as a carriage driver, “Kit & Co.” (1974) as a trapper and “Death for Zapata” (1976) as Manuel.

 

Nico died in Berlin, East Germany on June 22, 1978.

 

Today we remember Nico Turoff on what would have been his 115^th birthday.