Frederick Stafford
Actor · Died July 28, 1979, aged 51 · Czechoslovakia
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. In 1964 French director André Hunebelle discovered him on holiday at a hotel in Bangkok and asked him "How would you like to make movies with me?". Stafford replied "Why not?" and replaced Kerwin Matthews to play an agent code-named OSS 117 in two Bond-like-adventures. The first co-starring with Mylène Demongeot, in the second with Marina Vlady. He also appeared in war-films (The Battle of El Alamein) and in Michel Boisronds thriller Million Dollar Man alongside Anny Duperey. These movies got him the attention of the Master of Suspense: Alfred Hitchcock who signed him in 1968 to play the leading role as agent André Devereaux in Topaz (1969), but the film was not a success, and the casting of Stafford, whose performance was found lacking by critics, was largely blamed for its failure. Channel4 told: Heading the international cast is a very wooden Stafford, who is no Cary Grant. He married German actress Marianne Hold. He had a come-back in 1972 as Commissario Luca Micelli in Italian Giallo Shadows Unseen. Five years after Topaz he starred as detective Sandro Mattei beside the actress who played his daughter in Topaz, French actress Claude Jade, in the Italian thriller La ragazza di Via Condotti (Meurtres à Rome/Special Killers) (1973/74). In that movie the character of 20 years older Stafford has a brief platonic romance with Jade's character Tiffany. His last successes were the Spanish Movies Blood and Passion(1975) and White Horses of Summer (1975, starring Jean Seberg, his co-star from 1966 Estouffade à la Caraïbe), the Italian thriller Werewolf Man (1976) and the Spanish- Italian-French coproduction Hold-Up (1977). He died in 1979 in a plane crash. His son is the singer Roderick Stafford (born 1964), Flowers from Hitchcock. Description above from the Wikipedia article Frederick Stafford, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- March 11, 1928
- July 28, 1979 (aged 51)
- Czechoslovakia
- Actor
- 6 on MovieCove · 17 credits in all
What are Frederick Stafford's films like?
Across their 6 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Survival.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 6
Light 0 · Serious 2 · Dark 4
Grounded 1 · Stylized 5 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 4
Steady 2 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 6 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 6 · Relentless 0
A split, not a type: Casual 3 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 1
Resolved 5 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Roles they play
Usually the Hero: 4 of 4 analyzed roles.
- Heroas Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath in Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 (1966)
- Heroas Joe Mortimer in Dirty Heroes (1967)
- Heroas Lt. Giorgio Borri in The Battle of El Alamein (1969)
- Heroas Captain Paul Stevens in Eagles Over London (1969)
Moods and endings
- Happy3
- Bittersweet1
- Tragic1
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Frederick Stafford's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 2 of their 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Frederick Stafford's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
17 credits, 6 with a MovieCove page.
Fear Runs Deep (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1976)
Midcredits score: 15th percentile of all films
Blood and Passion (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1976)
White Horses of Summer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1975)
Hold Up (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1974)
Suppose... I Break Your Neck (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1973)
Special Killers (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1973)
Shadows Unseen (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)
Topaz(1969)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all films
Eagles Over London(1969)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
The Battle of El Alamein(1969)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
Dirty Heroes(1967)
Midcredits score: 11th percentile of all films
Million Dollar Man (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)
The Looters (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)
Midcredits score: 32nd percentile of all films
Agent 505 - Death Trap Beirut (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1966)
OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)
Career shape
Star power in the 92nd percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 17 titles from 1965 to 1976; peak year 1965.
Biggest box office
Topaz (1969)
Highest rated
Topaz (1969)
Most popular right now
The Legend of the Wolf Woman (1976)
Film career
Peak 1965 · fewer prominent film roles lately. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 1965Screen debut· OSS 117: Mission for a Killer
- 1965First top-billed film· OSS 117: Mission for a Killer
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30.
How do Frederick Stafford's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 26th percentile, the median of all 6; across their 6 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 34th percentile for acclaim.
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
None of their 6 titles divides audiences: 4 are Mixed.
- Broadly Agreed2
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the acting 51/100 in their films, across 6 reviewed titles; fans 66, detractors 34. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Frederick Stafford work with?
People who share at least 2 of Frederick Stafford's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Vincenzo Mannino shares the most, 2.
Writers
- Vincenzo ManninoShared titles: Eagles Over London (1969), Dirty Heroes (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Vincenzo Mannino
Actors
- Howard RossShared titles: The Legend of the Wolf Woman (1976), Dirty Heroes (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Howard Ross
Producers
- Edmondo AmatiShared titles: Eagles Over London (1969), Dirty Heroes (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Edmondo Amati
- Georges RoitfeldShared titles: Eagles Over London (1969), Dirty Heroes (1967)See all 2 shared titles with Georges Roitfeld