Tall, blonde, handsome German actor Hardy Kruger was 16 when he appeared in his first film, Junge Adler (1943). His early ascendency to stardom planted the seed of the widespread belief that Kruger had "favored" status with Goebbels as a member of the Hitler Youth. Whatever the case, his film career didn't really sprout wings until after the war, with the 1952 feature Illusion in Moll. Extremely popular in his own country, Kruger was also seen to good avantage in British films (The One That Got Away [1957] etc.) and rugged American adventure pictures (Hatari [1962], Flight of the Phoenix [1966]). During the '70s and '80s, Kruger directed a number of European television documentaries. Hardy Kruger is the father of actress Christiane Kruger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide