Wilhelm Von Homburg

Description

Wilhelm von Homburg (born Norbert Grupe; August 25, 1940 &ndash; March 10, 2004) was a German wrestler, boxer, and film actor most noted for his portrayal of Vigo the Carpathian in the 1989 film Ghostbusters II. <p>Homburg was born in the German capital Berlin. In 1945, as Allied forces air raids took over Berlin, his family chose to live in West Germany. Over time, Homburg developed a muscular body, and his father Richard, who was a baker of profession, introduced him to wrestling. Homburg and his family moved to the United States in the 1950s, and he and his father fought across the states on some wrestling associations. It was in the U.S. where he dropped his real name Norbert Grupe for marketing reasons, due to his last name being pronounced "Groupie" and took the name "Wilhelm von Homburg". <p>During his stint as a wrestler, Homburg was enticed to his bad guy character. He became interested in boxing after Emile Griffith's fateful third bout with Benny Paret. Homburg made his...