Born in
Vienna, Werner spent much of his childhood in the care of his grandmother, who entertained him with stories about the
Burgtheater, the Austrian state theatre, where he was accepted at the age of 18 by
Lothar Müthel. He was the youngest person to receive this recognition. He made his theatre debut using the stage name Oskar Werner in October 1941. In December 1941, Werner was drafted into the
Deutsche Wehrmacht. As a
pacifist and staunch opponent of
National Socialism, he was determined to avoid advancement in the army: He was assigned to peeling potatoes and cleaning latrines instead of being sent to the
Eastern Front. In 1944, he secretly married actress , who was half
Jewish. They had a daughter Eleanore. That December, he deserted the Wehrmacht and fled with his wife and daughter to the
Wienerwald (Vienna Woods), where they remained in hiding until the end of the war. He would later remember, "The artillery fire was constant for two and a half days. The shells hit all around our little hut and it was shaking like a leaf ... We knew that to go out there would be suicide, but it was better than to have to wait for execution." ==Career==