Vladek Sheybal was a Polish born character actor, whose career lasted from the 1950's into the 1980's. He is probably best known for his portrayal of the chess grandmaster Kronsteen in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love, a role for which he had been personally recommended by his good friend Sean Connery. He was also well known for playing Russian General Bratchenko in Red Dawn.

He starred in the 1957 film Kanał, directed by Andrzej Wajda (credited as Wladyslaw Sheybal), before finding more lasting success in British films and television, usually cast in villainous roles. He also appeared as Holocaust survivor Egon Sobotnik in the landmark TV miniseries "QB VII."

Other movie 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, The Apple and The Jigsaw Man.

TV credits include: Z-Cars, Danger Man, The Troubleshooters, The Saint, The Baron, The Champions, Callan, UFO (in which he had a recurring role as Dr. Jackson), The New Avengers, The Supernatural, Shogun, Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy, and Smiley's People (1982).

He died in 1992 from a ruptured aortic aneurysm and was buried in Putney Vale Cemetery.