One of the stars of
The Great Escape (1963) to have actually been a
World War II prisoner of war (
Hannes Messemer, who played Colonel Lugo the camp commander, was a German soldier in World War II and was captured by American troops and held in a POW camp until the end of the war). He was also a POW in Russia. When he kindly offered advice to director
John Sturges, he was politely asked to keep his "opinions" to himself. Later, when another star from the film informed Sturges that Pleasence had actually been an RAF officer in a World War II German POW camp, Sturges requested Pleasance's technical advice and input on historical accuracy from that point forward.
