Person Details

Birthday: 1893-01-22 00:28:09

Death: 1943-04-03 00:28:09

Aliases: Veidt

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 85

TV Involvements: 0


Most Famous Work

Biography

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German silent film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of Ufa, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the Nazis came to power. They settled in Britain, where he participated in a number of films, including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United States around 1941, which lead to him having a supporting role in Casablanca (1942). From 1916 until his death, Veidt appeared in more than 100 films. One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), a classic of German Expressionist cinema, with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover. His starring role in The Man Who Laughs (1928), as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin, provided the (visual) inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker, created in 1940 by Bill Finger. Veidt also starred in other silent horror films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924), another film directed by Robert Wiene, The Student of Prague (1926) and Waxworks (1924) where he played Ivan the Terrible. Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfeld's film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919), one of the first films to sympathetically portray homosexuality, although the characters in it do not end up happily. He had a leading role in Germany's first talking picture, Das Land ohne Frauen (Land Without Women, 1929). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and made a few films, but the advent of talking pictures and his difficulty with speaking English led him to return to Germany. During this period he lent his expertise to tutoring aspiring performers, one of whom was the later American character actress Lisa Golm.

Most Famous Work

Casablanca
Average
8

Casablanca

(1943) Major Heinrich Strasser
The Thief of Bagdad
Average
7

The Thief of Bagdad

(1940) Jaffar
The Man Who Laughs
Average
7

The Man Who Laughs

(1928) Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Average
8
The Spy in Black
Average
6

The Spy in Black

(1939) Captain Ernst Hardt
A Woman's Face
Average
7

A Woman's Face

(1941) Torsten Barring
The Hands of Orlac
Average
7

The Hands of Orlac

(1924) Paul Orlac
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Average
8

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2000 Self (archive footage)
1998 (archive footage)
1974 Self (archive footage)
1943 Hassert Seidel
Major Heinrich Strasser
1942 Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Franz Ebbing
1941 Stanislas Rosing
Joseph Jones
Torsten Barring
1940 Jaffar
General Kurt von Kolb
Self
Capt. Andersen
1939 Captain Ernst Hardt
1938 Le baron de Kempelen
Erich Keith
1937 Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Gil de Berault
1935 Convict 83
The Stranger
1934 Mahmoud Baroudi
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
Gessler
1933 Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
Commandant Oberaertz
Maj. Ellissen
Marquis de Pontignac
1932 Zurta
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
Grigori Rasputin
1931 Prince Metternich
Hauptmann Stanhope
Fürst Metternich
N/A
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
1930 Kingsley
Himself
Hauptmann Burk
1929 Erik the Great
Dick Ashton
1928 N/A
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
1927 N/A
Paul La Roche
King Louis XI
1926 Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
Balduin, Student
N/A
Paul Hartwig, Maler
Wenzel Schellenberg / Michael Schellenberg
Renées Vater
Der Staatsanwalt
1925 Hellgum
Comte Kostia
N/A
1924 Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Ivan the Terrible
Paul Orlac
Himself
Don Carlos
1923 Hermann Gessler
Niccolo Paganini
1922 Cesare Borgia
1921 Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Lord Nelson
Christian Wahnschaffe
N/A
Hektor Dalmore
Jalenko
Ivan
Der Maler
Tossi
N/A
1920 Minister
Christian Wahnschaffe
Manolescu
Brilburn - Maud's brother
Wilmos, sanatorium director
Dr. Warren
The devil
Sir Percy Parker
Petre Karvan
Cesare
The clown
1919 Der Tod / Various Other Roles
Bankier Lorenzen
Carl Kraker
Alfred Werner
Paul Körner
Phineas Fogg
Alfred Werner
Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
1918 N/A
Erik Norrensen
Kramer
N/A
N/A
Dr. Julius
Satan
N/A
N/A
1917 Steinau
N/A
Indian Priest
N/A
Year Character Movie/Tv

Directing

Year Role Movie/Tv
1919 Director
Year Role Movie/Tv

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