Character Actor Karl Bruck, 81, Dies

Karl Bruck, a character actor known to audiences for more than a decade as Maestro Ernesto Faustch on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless,” has died at age 81.

Bruck, a native of Vienna who fled Europe after losing his family in the Holocaust and being imprisoned himself, came to the United States in 1945.

In Europe he had appeared as Hamlet and in “Faust,” “Six Characters in Search of an Author” and “Journey’s End,” among many other stage productions.

In the United States he was seen in such films as “Escape From the Planet of the Apes,” “The Birdmen” and “Paint Your Wagon,” where he portrayed Schermerhorn, the mean-spirited German shopkeeper.

He created the role of the Maestro when “The Young and the Restless” went on the air in 1974 and was still being seen until shortly before his fatal illness.

He also was seen regularly on TV in episodes of “The Fugitive,” “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible,” “It Takes a Thief” and “Love Boat.”

Bruck’s wife was killed during the war and he never remarried, said David Johnson, a longtime friend.