Known For
Acting
Born
Jan 22, 1893
Died
Apr 03, 1943
Place of Birth
Berlin, Germany
Credits
121 titles
Conrad Veidt
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.
Known For
Filmography
Vito
Self (archive)
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar (archival footage)
The Many Faces of Dracula
Self (archive footage)
Universal Horror
(archive footage)
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Self (archive footage)
Above Suspicion
Hassert Seidel
Casablanca
Major Heinrich Strasser
Nazi Agent
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
All Through the Night
Franz Ebbing
The Men in Her Life
Stanislas Rosing
Whistling in the Dark
Joseph Jones
A Woman's Face
Torsten Barring
Escape
General Kurt von Kolb
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
Contraband
Capt. Andersen
The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar
The Spy in Black
Captain Ernst Hardt
The Chess Player
Le baron de Kempelen
Tempête sur l'Asie
Erich Keith
Dark Journey
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Under the Red Robe
Gil de Berault
King of the Damned
Convict 83
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
The Stranger
Bella Donna
Mahmoud Baroudi
Jew Süss
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
Wilhelm Tell
Gessler
The Wandering Jew
Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
I Was a Spy
Commandant Oberaertz
F.P.1
Maj. Ellissen
The Only Girl
Marquis de Pontignac
Rome Express
Zurta
The Black Hussar
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
Grigori Rasputin
The Other Side
Hauptmann Stanhope
Congress Dances
Fürst Metternich
The Night of the Decision
General Gregori Platoff
The Man Who Committed the Murder
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
The Love Storm
Kingsley
The Great Passion
Himself
The Last Company
Hauptmann Burk
The Last Performance
Erik the Great
Das Land ohne Frauen
Dick Ashton
The Movie City of Hollywood
Self
The Man Who Laughs
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
A Man's Past
Paul La Roche
The Beloved Rogue
King Louis XI
Napoleon
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
The Flight in the Night
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
The Student of Prague
Balduin, Student