Frederick Stafford

Frederick Stafford (11 March 1928 – 28 July 1979) was a Czechoslovak-born actor. Born Friedrich Strobel von Stein, he spoke fluent Czech, German, English, French and Italian, and was a leading man in European spy-movies and in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz. Biography Early life By some accounts, Stafford claimed to have played water polo at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was the son of a Slovak factory owner. He studied chemistry and spent time in Switzerland. He was worried about the Russians taking over Czechoslovakia and in 1948 decided to leave. It would take too long to move to the US or Canada so he went to Australia in 1949. While there he changed his name to "Frederick Stafford". "I always liked the name," he later said.