"Major Arnold Ernst Toht, portrayed by Ronald Lacey, is the sinister Gestapo agent who attempts to retrieve the medallion from Marion, but his hand is burned by it, due to the fact that the medallion had been engulfed in flames just a few minutes before he grabbed it. The scarred inscription on his hand is used by the Nazis to pinpoint the Ark's location, but as his hand lacks the code on its other side, they end up digging in the wrong area. His face is melted by the spirits in the Ark, but in the comic book adaptation he is killed by Indiana during the truck chase with an in-and-out bullet on the head. In a sequel comic book, Indy is confronted by his vengeful sister Ilsa.
Toht was known as Belzig in the August 1979 draft of the script. His new name "Toht" refers to "Tod", the german word for "death". Spielberg wanted Toht to be a cyborg, with a metal arm that could transform into a flamethrower and machine gun. (!) The 1979 script gave him a light in place of a right eye. (They want Toht to be The Terminator?) Lucas rejected these as too far-fetched. Lacey was cast as Toht as he reminded Spielberg of Peter Lorre. Klaus Kinski turned down the role as he hated the script. (Nice move, Klaus.) Lacey later cameoed in The Last Crusade as Heinrich Himmler, opposite Michael Sheard (who auditioned for Toht) as Adolf Hitler. A 3.75" figure of Toht was released in late 1982, and he was part of a metal miniature collection in 1984."
3 comments:
I like the music, but doesn't he look a bit too much like the SS guy from Raiders of the Lost Ark?
http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsL/9702-15555.gif
"Yesssss, I know you will..."
Some interesting shtuff from Wikipedia here:
"Major Arnold Ernst Toht, portrayed by Ronald Lacey, is the sinister Gestapo agent who attempts to retrieve the medallion from Marion, but his hand is burned by it, due to the fact that the medallion had been engulfed in flames just a few minutes before he grabbed it. The scarred inscription on his hand is used by the Nazis to pinpoint the Ark's location, but as his hand lacks the code on its other side, they end up digging in the wrong area. His face is melted by the spirits in the Ark, but in the comic book adaptation he is killed by Indiana during the truck chase with an in-and-out bullet on the head. In a sequel comic book, Indy is confronted by his vengeful sister Ilsa.
Toht was known as Belzig in the August 1979 draft of the script. His new name "Toht" refers to "Tod", the german word for "death". Spielberg wanted Toht to be a cyborg, with a metal arm that could transform into a flamethrower and machine gun. (!) The 1979 script gave him a light in place of a right eye. (They want Toht to be The Terminator?) Lucas rejected these as too far-fetched. Lacey was cast as Toht as he reminded Spielberg of Peter Lorre. Klaus Kinski turned down the role as he hated the script. (Nice move, Klaus.) Lacey later cameoed in The Last Crusade as Heinrich Himmler, opposite Michael Sheard (who auditioned for Toht) as Adolf Hitler. A 3.75" figure of Toht was released in late 1982, and he was part of a metal miniature collection in 1984."
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