Vladek Sheybal (March 12, 1923 – October 16, 1992) was a character actor of the 1950s-1980s.

Vladek Sheybal (right) in ‘From Russia With Love’.

He appeared in the 1957 film Kanal directed by Andrzej Wajda (credited as Wladyslaw Sheybal) before finding more lasting success in British films and television, usually cast in villainous roles.

He is probably best known for his performance as the chess grandmaster Kronsteen in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love. (He had been recommended for the part by his good friend Sean Connery.) He was also well known for playing Russian General Bratchenko in Red Dawn. Sheybal excelled in playing cold, sinister villains.

Other film credits include: Casino Royale, Billion Dollar Brain, Deadfall, Mosquito Squadron, The Last Valley, Women in Love, The Boy Friend, The Wind and the Lion, The Lady Vanishes and The Jigsaw Man.

In 1977 Sheybal won the ‘Dracula Society’s’ prestigious ‘Hamilton Deane Award’ for his performance in the BBC play ‘Night Of The Marionettes’ in which he played a sinister Austrian innkeeper whose life-size puppets were purported to have inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Other recipients have included Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Lee.