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
(1943) Major Heinrich StrasserThe Thief of Bagdad
(1940) JaffarThe Man Who Laughs
(1928) Gwynplaine / Lord ClancharlieThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
(1920) CesareThe Spy in Black
(1939) Captain Ernst HardtA Woman's Face
(1941) Torsten BarringThe Hands of Orlac
(1924) Paul OrlacThe Passing of the Third Floor Back
(1935) The StrangerActing
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 |