His interview on Mutual Broadcasting Network was interrupted when Nazi
Germany surrendered.
Before 1938 he was the leader of an anti-Nazi youth movement in Vienna.
When the Germans took over, he was put in a concentration camp for 3
months, after which his parents quickly sent him to live with an
American friend. They later died in a concentration camp.
Making fun of the actor's name in the 1940s, a popular joke was to say that "Helmut Dantine" was a German phrase meaning "You have chewing gum on your hat." Dentyne was, and still is, a popular American brand of chewing gum.
His father was the head of the Austrian railway system.
Sam Peckinpah dedicated his last film, "The Osterman Weekend", to Dantine; it appeared the year after the actor's death.
Son with Wrightsman: Dana Wrightsman Dantine (b. July 17, 1948).