Conrad Veidt profile
Actor profile

Conrad Veidt

22nd January 1893 Berlin, Germany Acting

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.

99 Movies 0 TV Shows 121 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Vito poster
Vito 14th October 2011 as Self (archive)
Casablanca poster
Casablanca 15th January 1943 as Major Heinrich Strasser
Nazi Agent poster
Nazi Agent 1st March 1942 as Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Escape poster
Escape 1st November 1940 as General Kurt von Kolb
Jew Süss poster
Jew Süss 13th October 1934 as Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
The Wandering Jew poster
The Wandering Jew 15th November 1933 as Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
F.P.1 poster
F.P.1 2nd April 1933 as Maj. Ellissen
Napoleon poster
Napoleon 10th January 1927 as Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
Waxworks poster
Waxworks 13th November 1924 as Ivan the Terrible
Paganini poster
Paganini 31st March 1923 as Niccolo Paganini
Danton poster
Danton 3rd May 1921 as Minor Role (rumored)
Moriturus poster
Moriturus 23rd September 1920 as Wilmos, sanatorium director
Eerie Tales poster
Eerie Tales 5th November 1919 as Der Tod / Various Other Roles
Opium poster
Opium 7th January 1919 as Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
Colomba poster
Colomba 8th November 1918 as Henryk von Rhyn
Fear poster
Fear 21st September 1917 as Indian Priest

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