Conrad Veidt
Known for: 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.
Filmography
Film
Casablanca
Major Heinrich Strasser
1943
Film
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Cesare
1920
Film
The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar
1940
Film
Napoleon
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
1927
Film
The Hands of Orlac
Paul Orlac
1924
Film
The Man Who Laughs
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
1928
Film
A Woman's Face
Torsten Barring
1941
Film
Dark Journey
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
1937
Film
All Through the Night
Franz Ebbing
1942
Wahnsinn
Bankier Lorenzen
1919
Film
Above Suspicion
Hassert Seidel
1943
Film
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Schober
1918
Der Spion
Steinau
1917
Film
Danton
Minor Role (rumored)
1921
Manolescu's Memoirs
Manolescu
1920
Film
Escape
General Kurt von Kolb
1940
Film
Bella Donna
Mahmoud Baroudi
1934
Film
The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
1921
Film
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
The Stranger
1935
Film
Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
Christian Wahnschaffe
1920
Film
Opium
Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
1919
Film
The Mystery of Bangalore
Dinja
1918
Film
Nazi Agent
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
1942
Film
Tempête sur l'Asie
Erich Keith
1938
Film
Vito
Self (archive)
2011
Film
Lady Hamilton
Lord Nelson
1921
Film
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
1940
Schicksal
1925
Film
Eerie Tales
Der Tod / Various Other Roles
1919
Film
Wenn Tote sprechen
Richard von Worth
1917
Liebestaumel
Jalenko
1921
Film
Fear
Indian Priest
1917
Film
Contraband
Capt. Andersen
1940
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Self (archive footage)
1974
Film
People in Ecstasy
Professor Munk
1921
Künstlerlaunen
1920
Film
Colomba
Henryk von Rhyn
1918
Film
Le Comte Kostia
Comte Kostia
1925
Film
Der Weg des Todes
1917
Film
Rome Express
Zurta
1932
Film
Paganini
Niccolo Paganini
1923
Film
The Spy in Black
Captain Ernst Hardt
1939
Film
Universal Horror
(archive footage)
1998
Film
The Black Hussar
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
1932
Film
The Story of Dida Ibsen
Erik Norrensen
1918
Film
Congress Dances
Fürst Metternich
1931
Film
Figures of the Night
The clown
1920
Film
I Was a Spy
Commandant Oberaertz
1933
Film
The Other Side
Hauptmann Stanhope
1931
Film
Waxworks
Ivan the Terrible
1924
Film
The Only Girl
Marquis de Pontignac
1933
Film
Lucrezia Borgia
Cesare Borgia
1922
Film
Whistling in the Dark
Joseph Jones
1941
Film
The Great Passion
Himself
1930
Film
The Men in Her Life
Stanislas Rosing
1941
Film
The Beloved Rogue
King Louis XI
1927
Film
Moriturus
Wilmos, sanatorium director
1920
Film
The Japanese Woman
1919
Film
The Chess Player
Le baron de Kempelen
1938
Film
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Tossi
1921
Film
Different from the Others
Paul Körner
1919
Film
Under the Red Robe
Gil de Berault
1937
Film
The Many Faces of Dracula
Self (archive footage)
2000
Film
The Wandering Jew
Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
1933
Film
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
Doktor Köstling
1918
Film
King of the Damned
Convict 83
1935
Film
Husbands or Lovers
Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
1924
Film
The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
1921
Film
The Man Who Committed the Murder
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
1931
Film
F.P.1
Maj. Ellissen
1933
Film
Jew Süss
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
1934
Film
Landstraße und Großstadt
Raphael, der Geiger
1921
Film
The Wife's Crusade
Der Staatsanwalt
1926
The Movie City of Hollywood
Self
1928
Film
Should We Be Silent?
Paul Hartwig, Maler
1926
Peer Gynt - 2. Teil: Peer Gynts Wanderjahre und Tod
1919
Film
The Last Performance
Erik the Great
1929
Wilhelm Tell
Gessler
1934
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar (archival footage)
2008
Film
The Ingmar Inheritance
Hellgum
1925
Film
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Don Carlos
1924
Film
The Merry-Go-Round
Petre Karvan
1920
Film
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
Grigori Rasputin
1932
Film
The Student of Prague
Balduin, Student
1926
Film
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
1927
Film
Around the World in 80 Days
Phineas Fogg
1919
Film
Diary of a Lost Woman
Dr. Julius
1918
Film
The Head of Janus
Dr. Warren
1920
Film
Evening – Night – Morning
Brilburn - Maud's brother
1920
Film
The Night of the Decision
General Gregori Platoff
1931
Opfer der Gesellschaft
1919
Film
The Count of Cagliostro
Minister
1920
Der Leidensweg der Inge Krafft
1921
Glanz gegen Glück
1923
Film
Prinz Kuckuck
Carl Kraker
1919
Film
Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
Ivan
1921
Film
Impetuous Youth
Renées Vater
1926
Nocturno der Liebe
Frederic Chopin
1919
Film
The Last Company
Hauptmann Burk
1930
Film
Das Land ohne Frauen
Dick Ashton
1929
Film
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
Hektor Dalmore
1921
Kurfürstendamm
The devil
1920
Film
Prostitution
Alfred Werner
1919
Film
Wilhelm Tell
Hermann Gessler
1923
Film
Love Is Blind
1926
Film
The Film in the Film
Self
1924
The Mexican
Dr. von Dossen
1919
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall
1920
Two Brothers
Wenzel Schellenberg / Michael Schellenberg
1926
Film
Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
Christian Wahnschaffe
1921
Film
Journey into the Night
Der Maler
1921
Film
The Love Storm
Kingsley
1930
Film
Prostitution II
Alfred Werner
1919
Die Augen der Welt
Johannes Kay
1920
Film
A Man's Past
Paul La Roche
1927
Patience
Sir Percy Parker
1920
Film
The Flight in the Night
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
1926
Film
Es werde Licht! 4. Teil: Sündige Mütter
Kramer
1918
Film
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 2. Henriette Jacoby
Doktor Köstling
1918
Die Okarina
1919
Film
Not of the Woman Born
Satan
1918