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Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 at Nuremberg - 27 November 2002 at Baden-Baden) was a German theatre, film and television actor.

The son of a teacher, in the early 1930s Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck, making his stage début in Munich in 1932. He went to appear in various theatre productions in Heidelberg, Königsberg, Bonn, Bremen, Stuttgart and Berlin.

In 1942 he made his film début - he was exempted from military service specifically - in the UFA production Die grosse Liebe with Zarah Leander. After the end of the Second World War Preiss returned to the theatre, and from 1949 worked extensively dubbing films into German.

In 1954 he returned to film acting, appearing in Alfred Weidenmann's Canaris. The following year Preiss played the lead role of Claus von Stauffenberg in Falk Harnack's film Der 20. Juli, which dramatised the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. This role brought Preiss to popular attention and also the 1956 Federal Film Award.

From now on Preiss was largely typecast in the role of the upright and obligation-conscious German officer to the other A-list actor playing the Fanatic (I.E. Paul Scofeld in The Train) a part he played in many films, later reprising it in numerous international productions, predominantly in Italy and the USA, while occasionally playing a more typically cynical or brutal Nazi officer.

Preiss appeared in such productions as The Longest Day (1962), Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963), and with Jean-Paul Belmondo in Is Paris Burning? (1966). He starred alongside Burt Lancaster in John Frankenheimer's The Train (1964), Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express (1965), Robert Mitchum in Anzio (1968), with Richard Burton, in the title role of Erwin Rommel in Raid on Rommel (1971), and The Boys From Brazil (1978) with Gregory Peck. He also appeared in several Italian language films, credited as "Luppo Prezzo", and played Field Marshal Von Rundstedt in Richard Attenborough's all-star war epic A Bridge Too Far (1977).

In addition, for the cinema-going public of West Germany he became the epitome of the evil genius in his role as Doctor Mabuse, a role he first played in 1960 (following Rudolf Klein-Rogge) in Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. He went on to play the role four more times.

In the 1980s Preiss turned to television, notably playing General Walther von Brauchitsch in the American TV mini-series Winds of War and War and Remembrance, based on the books of Herman Wouk.

In 1987 received a second Federal Film Award for his outstanding work in film.

In film dubbing Preiss provided the voice for such actors as Lex Barker, Christopher Lee, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Richard Widmark, as well as that of Conrad Veidt as "Major Strasser" in the remastered version of Casablanca.

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Wolfgang Preiss (* 27. Februar 1910 in Nürnberg; † 27. November 2002 in Bühl (Baden)) war ein deutscher Schauspieler und Synchronsprecher.

1942 debütierte er – von der Wehrmacht eigens dafür freigestellt – als Filmschauspieler in der UFA-Produktion Die große Liebe neben Zarah Leander.

Nach Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges arbeitete Preiss zunächst wieder am Theater sowie seit 1949 umfangreich in der Synchronisation. 1954 kehrte er zum Film zurück, als Alfred Weidenmann ihn in seiner Kinoproduktion Canaris als Offizier besetzte. Im Folgejahr stellte Preiss in Falk Harnacks Produktion über das Hitler-Attentat Der 20. Juli Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg dar. Diese Rolle bescherte ihm große Popularität und brachte ihm 1956 als Bundesfilmpreis das Filmband in Silber ein.

Fortan war Preiss auf Rollen aufrechter und pflichtbewusster Offiziere festgelegt, ähnlich wie sein Kollege Wolfgang Büttner, u. a. in Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben von Frank Wisbar, in Haie und kleine Fische und in Die grünen Teufel von Monte Cassino. Auch in zahlreichen internationalen Produktionen, vorwiegend in Italien und den USA, spielte Preiss solche Rollen, häufig Wehrmachtsoffiziere. So spielte er unter der Regie von Otto Preminger in Der Kardinal (1963), neben Jean-Paul Belmondo in Der Boss hat sich was ausgedacht (1964) und in Brennt Paris? (1966). 1964 war er neben Burt Lancaster in Der Zug (The Train) unter der Regie von John Frankenheimer zu sehen und 1965 in Colonel von Ryans Express neben Frank Sinatra. In aufwändigen und starbesetzten Großproduktionen verkörperte er eine ganze Reihe historischer Wehrmachtsgenerale: Max Pemsel in Der längste Tag (1962), Albert Kesselring in Die Schlacht von Anzio neben Robert Mitchum (1968), Erwin Rommel in Jagd auf Rommel neben Richard Burton (1971) sowie Gerd von Rundstedt in Die Brücke von Arnheim (1976) von Richard Attenborough.