Torben Meyer

Sour-visaged Danish actor Torben Meyer entered films as early as 1913, when he was prominently featured in the Danish super-production Atlantis. Despite his Scandinavian heritage, Meyer was usually typecast in Germanic roles after making his American screen debut in 1933. Many of his parts were fleeting, such as the Amsterdam banker who is offended because "Mister Rick" won't join him for a drink in Casablanca (1942). He was shown to excellent advantage in the films of producer/director Preston Sturges, beginning with Christmas in July (1940) and ending with The Beautiful Blonde of Bashful Bend (1949). Evidently as a private joke, Sturges nearly always cast Meyer as a character named Schultz, with such conspicuous exceptions as "Dr. Kluck" in The Palm Beach Story (1942). Torben Meyer made his last movie appearance in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), playing one of the German judges on trial for war crimes; Meyer's guilt-ridden inability to explain his actions was one of the film's most powerful moments.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide