Austrian-born Walter Szurovy began his acting career on the Vienna stage, and played in Karlsbad, Iglau, Maehrisch Ostrau and in 1937 at the Theater in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He appeared in various European films: Kein Wort von Liebe (1937) (Czech; German title "Kein Wort von Liebe"), Le miroir de la vie (1938) (German; US title "Life's Mirror"), Menschen in den Bergen (1938) (Czech-Austrian), Hotel Sacher (1939) with Elfriede Datzig and the US film Le port de l'angoisse (1944) based on the book by Ernest Hemingway, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In 1941 he founded the Polk-Szurovy Agency in Hollywood. From 1947 he worked as personal manager to his wife, Metropolitan Opera star Risë Stevens. In 1950 he took a small part in a West German film, Falschmünzer am Werk (1951). He and his wife are the parents of film and television actor Nicolas Surovy, born in 1946.