Helmut Dantine enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and began his U.S. acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse. He was spotted by a talent scout and signed to a Warner Bros. contract. Dantine spent the early 1940s there, appearing in Casablanca (1942), Edge of Darkness (1943; his first lead role), Northern Pursuit (1943; as the Nazi villain) and Passage to Marseille (1944). Dantine was loaned out to other film companies for two notable films in 1942: To Be or Not to Be and Mrs. Miniver, the latter his first credited role. In 1944, exhibitors voting for “Stars of Tomorrow” picked Dantine at number ten. In 1947, he co-starred with Tallulah Bankhead in the Broadway play The Eagle Has Two Heads. According to Jean Cocteau, Bankhead made alterations to the play, and the production was a flop, lasting only 29 performances. He also performed in the 1950 Broadway play Parisienne. He starred in the short-lived live television series Shadow of the Cloak in the 1951-52 season. As his acting career wound down, he became a vice-president of Hollywood mogul Joseph Schenck’s company in 1959; Schenck was his wife’s uncle. Dantine’s last screen appearances were in three films for which he was the executive producer: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), and The Killer Elite (1975), both directed by Sam Peckinpah, and The Wilby Conspiracy (1975). He also directed the 1958 military aviation film Thundering Jets, starring Rex Reason. On 2 May 1982, Helmut Dantine died in Beverly Hills from a heart attack at the age of 63.