Born in Germany, Buehrlen had been an actor and director there before emigrating to the U.S. He labored in menial jobs for years before landing a mail room position at Paramount in the early 1950's, making an impression on it's celebrated spectacle director
Cecil B. DeMille, who offered him a job as a "chair boy." Unfamiliar with American film industry terminology, he jumped at the opportunity, but soon learned the position required him to literally handle C.B.'s chairs (of which there were 4 of varying heights), inserting the appropriate on in accordance to the director's posterior position relative to the camera and the director's volatile mood swings. He excelled at this job and after DeMille's death continued on at Paramount, working as a finance auditor in numerous productions (
Love Story (1970) and
The Godfather Part II (1974)).
