Conrad Veidt

Actor · 1893–1943 · Berlin, Germany

Highest rated as cast or director

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.

Acted in 94

1990s

1998
Universal Horror
(archive footage)

1940s

1943
Above Suspicion
Hassert Seidel
Casablanca
Major Heinrich Strasser
90
1942
Nazi Agent
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
All Through the Night
Franz Ebbing
78
1941
The Men in Her Life
Stanislas Rosing
Whistling in the Dark
Joseph Jones
A Woman's Face
Torsten Barring
79
1940
Escape
General Kurt von Kolb
Contraband
Capt. Andersen
The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar
80

1930s

1939
The Spy in Black
Captain Ernst Hardt
1938
The Chess Player
Le baron de Kempelen
Tempête sur l'Asie
Erich Keith
1937
Dark Journey
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Under the Red Robe
Gil de Berault
1935
King of the Damned
Convict 83
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
The Stranger
1934
Bella Donna
Mahmoud Baroudi
Jew Süss
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
1933
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
1932
Rome Express
Zurta
The Black Hussar
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
Grigori Rasputin
1931
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
1930
The Love Storm
Kingsley
The Last Company
Hauptmann Burk

1920s

1929
The Last Performance
Erik the Great
Das Land ohne Frauen
Dick Ashton
1928
The Man Who Laughs
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
82
1927
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
Movie
A Man's Past
Paul La Roche
The Beloved Rogue
King Louis XI
Napoleon
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
83
1926
The Flight in the Night
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
The Student of Prague
Balduin, Student
68
Love Is Blind
Movie
Should We Be Silent?
Paul Hartwig, Maler
Impetuous Youth
Renées Vater
The Wife's Crusade
Der Staatsanwalt
1925
The Ingmar Inheritance
Hellgum
Le Comte Kostia
Comte Kostia
1924
Husbands or Lovers
Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Waxworks
Ivan the Terrible
The Hands of Orlac
Paul Orlac
75
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Don Carlos
1923
William Tell
Hermann Gessler
Paganini
Niccolo Paganini
1922
Lucrezia Borgia
Cesare Borgia
1921
The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Lady Hamilton
Lord Nelson
Danton
Minor Role (rumored)
Landstraße und Großstadt
Raphael, der Geiger
Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
Christian Wahnschaffe
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
Hektor Dalmore
Journey into the Night
Der Maler
People in Ecstasy
Professor Munk
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Tossi
Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
Ivan
1920
The Count of Cagliostro
Minister
Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
Christian Wahnschaffe
Evening – Night – Morning
Brilburn - Maud's brother
Moriturus
Wilmos, sanatorium director
The Head of Janus
Dr. Warren
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Cesare
84
The Merry-Go-Round
Petre Karvan
Figures of the Night
The clown