Wilhelm Von Homburg (aka Norbert Grupe) was born in Berlin, Germany. He started out his career as a wrestler during the fifties in Germany where he earned his fame. He also toured the States. Homburg's stage name was Prinz Wilhelm Von Homburg. In the early sixties, he changed from wrestling to boxing. Between 1962 and 1970 he was in the light heavyweight and the heavyweight class.
In Hollywood, he made his debut on the popular television show "Gun Smoke", as "Otto". The director Andrew V. McLaglen, had writer John Meston write the episode inspired by Wilhelm's life as a boxer. The production flew Wilhelm in from Germany to USA for a special appearance of the "Gun Smoke" episode "The Promoter". Later, Wilhelm had a recurring role on Television show "The Wild Wild West".
Wilhelm is best known for "Vigo the Carpathian" in the big hit movie "Ghost Busters ll". His other movies includes, to name a few... "Die Hard", "Diggs Town", "The Package", "Eye of The Storm", "In The Mouth of Madness", "The Devils Brigade", The Wrecking Crew, Stroszek etc.
Wilhelm made headlines after his controversial appearance on German TV at the ZDF Sport Studio, after the reporter Rainer Günzler had made some rude, snide remarks about his boxing career and his private life.
In the year 2000 German movie maker Gerd Kroske produced a prizewinning documentary on Wilhelm's life called Der Boxprinz (2002).
In his later years, Wilhelm lived in the beautiful Malibu/Santa Monica Mountains, together with his dog 'Kiss'. Wilhelm Von Homburg, died of cancer in March 2004 on the Villa Estate of his close friend in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
