Friedrich von Ledebur

Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln (June 3, 1900 – December 25, 1986) was an Austrian actor known for his roles in *Moby Dick* (1956), *Alexander the Great* (1955), and *Slaughterhouse-Five* (1972).

Born in Nisko, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Poland), Ledebur enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army in 1916 and served as an officer in the Austrian Cavalry Division during the final years of World War I.

In the 1930s, Ledebur became a close friend of Charles Bedaux, with whom he traveled extensively in Africa and Canada.

After the war, Ledebur spent the next two decades traveling the world, working a variety of odd jobs, including gold mining, deep sea diving, and winning prize money at rodeos. He settled in the United States in 1939 and anglicized his name to "Frederick."

A close friendship with fellow adventurer and director John Huston gave Ledebur his entrée into character acting.

Ledebur made his film debut in 1945. He later appeared in *Alexander the Great* (1955), and played chief harpooneer Queequeg, a South Sea chieftain, in the film *Moby Dick* (1956). "Better a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian," Herman Melville's Ishmael famously says of Queequeg in the book and the film. He appeared as Brother Christophorus in *The Twilight Zone* episode "The Howling Man."