Norbert Grupe started his carreer as a wrestler in the fifties. He also toured the States where the blonde hulk and loudmouth appeared as the 'ugly German'. For obvious marketing reasons (his birthname was pronounced 'Groupie' in the States) he assumed the pseudonym of Wilhelm von Homburg, sometimes also calling himself Prinz Wilhelm von Homburg, pretending to be of aristocratic descent.

In the early sixties he changed from wrestling to boxing. Between 1962 and 1970 he went through 46 fights (with 29 wins) in the light heavyweight and the heavyweight class, living alternatively in Germany and the USA.

In Hollywood he made his first experiences in the movie business with minor roles in Morituri and in Torn Curtain.

After being defeated in the boxing ring by Argentinian Oscar Bonavena on 20.9.1969 in Berlin, Grupe made his most prominent appearance on German TV at the ZDF Sportstudio the next day. After the reporter Rainer Günzler had made some snide remarks about his less successful boxing career and his flamboyant private life, Grupe sat through the 10 minute-live-interview mute, not answering one of Günzler's questions but only putting on a sarcastic smile.

This scene also sums up Grupe's essential acting abilities. With his coarse and slightly husky voice, his deadpan face and his pitbull charme he appeared to have lost the best of his brains in the boxing ring and at drinking bouts. So it is no wonder that in most of his movie and TV appearances he had only very few lines to say, if at all, performing at his best as the 'brute mute'.

But nevertheless Grupe fascinated a lot of fans, mainly in the demimonde, with his coolness. In 1985 a court in Hamburg sentenced him for 2 years and 3 months in prison for physical injury and activities in prostitution.

In 1989 Grupe starred as Count Vigo in Ghostbusters II, probably the most famous flic he was involved in. Unfortunately for him, he was hardly recognizable since most of his image was produced by CGI.

In the year 2000 German moviemaker Gerd Kroske produced a prizewinning documentary on Grupe's life called The Boxing Prince. In his later years Grupe lived in Los Angeles and toured the area together with his dog 'Kiss' in a shaky old VW bus.

Wilhelm von Homburg died impoverished of cancer in March 2004 at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.


The regional superior court of Hamburg sentenced him to two years and three month for bodily injury and aiding prostitution in 1985. Overall he spent five years of his life behind bars.