Born in Chicago in 1917, David Bauer found more success as an actor in Europe than he did in his home country. He was one of those caught up in the anti-Communist hysteria that swept the US, and especially Hollywood, in the 1950s. Bauer left the US and settled in Great Britain. He found a niche in British television, playing a variety of crooked American businessmen, attorneys, etc. He appeared in such series as The Saint (1962) in The Element of Doubt (1962) and had a memorable turn in the Living in Harmony (1967) episode of the fondly remembered Patrick McGoohan series The Prisoner (1967). He appeared in The London Beat (1972)), an episode of the American cop series shot in England, playing an American mob boss.

Bauer, for some reason, didn't appear in all that many films during his time in England, his best known probably being Utanç Duvarında Casusluk (1965) in which he played a judge and General Patton (1970), as American Lt. Gen. Harry Buford. He had parts in two James Bond films, İnsan İki Kere Yaşar (1967) and Ölümsüz Elmaslar (1971). He also worked on the British stage, both as an actor and director. He died in London in 1973, at age 55.