Dantine's father, Alfred Guttmann, was the head of the Austrian railway system in Vienna. As a young man, Dantine became involved in Vienna's anti-Nazi movement. In 1938, when he was 19 years old, the Nazis took over A… See more

Dantine enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles. His relatives thought he would go into business, but he became interested in theater. He began his U.S. acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse, … See more

Before graduating from UCLA, he married fellow theater student Gwen Anderson; they divorced in 1943.
In 1943, he was in a car accident and accused of hit-and-run. In January 1945 he was arreste… See more