CONRAD VEIDT

'Conrad Veidt' (January 22 1893 – April 3 1943) was a German actor, well known for his roles in such films as ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), ''The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940), and ''Casablanca'' (1942).

Contents

Early life and career

Flight from Germany

Later career

Selected Filmography

External links

Early life and career

He was born 'Hans Walter Conrad Weidt' in Potsdam, Germany. From 1916 until his death, he appeared in well over 100 movies. He appeared in two of the most well-known films of the silent era: as a murderous somnambulist in ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'', and as a disfigured circus performer in ''The Man Who Laughs'' (1928). Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfeld's pioneering gay rights film ''Anders als die Andern'' ("Different from the Others", 1919) and in ''Das Land ohne Frauen'' (1929), Germany's first talking picture.

Flight from Germany

Veidt fervently opposed the Nazi regime, and he emigrated from Germany in 1933 a week after marrying a Jewish woman, Illona Prager. He settled in the United Kingdom and continued making films, notably three with director Michael Powell: ''The Spy in Black'' (1939), ''Contraband'' (1940) and ''The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940). He also made the movie ''Jew Suss'', a satire of antisemitism. Although it was not a success with audiences, it did succeed in angering Josef Goebbels, who banned all of Veidt's films from Germany.

Later career

He later moved to Hollywood, and starred in a few films, such as ''Nazi Agent'' - in which he had a dual role as a Nazi and as the Nazi's twin brother. But he is most well known in this period for playing the Nazi Major Heinrich Strasser in ''Casablanca'' (1942).
He died of a heart attack a year later, while playing golf in Los Angeles.
Veidt sang the title song "Where the Lighthouse Shines Across the Bay" of the 1933 film ''F.P.1'' It was a flop at the time, but became a hit in the United Kingdom in 1980. Disc-jockey Terry Wogan had played it as a request on his breakfast show and was flooded afterwards with letters asking for a repeat.

Selected Filmography

★ ''Casablanca'' (1942)

★ ''Nazi Agent'' (1942)

★ ''Contraband'' (1940)

★ ''The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940)

★ ''The Spy in Black'' (1939)

★ ''Congress Dances'' (1931)

★ ''The Man Who Laughs'' (1928)

★ ''The Beloved Rogue'' (1927)

★ ''The Student of Prague'' (1926)

★ ''Waxworks'' (1924)

★ ''The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari'' (1920)

★ ''Different From the Others'' (1919)

External links

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★ Pictures of Conrad Veidt.

★ The Official Conrad Veidt Society website

★ Pictures of Conrad Veidt