Albert Bassermann
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Albert Bassermann (born September 7, 1867, Mannheim, Germany; died May 15, 1952, Zurich, Switzerland) was a German stage and screen actor.
Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in Mannheim. He then spent four years at the Hoftheater in Meiningen. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the Deutsches Theater from 1904, and in 1909 worked at the Lessing Theatre. From 1909 to 1915, Bassermann worked with Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater Berlin.
Bassermann was among the first German theatre actors who worked in film. In 1913, he played the main role of the lawyer in Max Mack's Der Andere (The Other), after the play by Paul Lindau. He also worked with German silent film directors Richard Oswald, Ernst Lubitsch, Leopold Jessner and Lupu Pick.
In 1933, Bassermann left Germany and lived in the United States from 1938. Although his English was limited, he learned lines phonetically with assistance from his wife and found work as a character actor. For his supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent, Bassermann was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor in 1940. He returned to Europe in 1946. His final film apperance was in The Red Shoes.
His illustrious career was acknowledged when he received the Iffland-Ring from the prominent actor Friedrich Haase. While Bassermann himself attempted to bestow the Iffland-Ring, he outlived each of the three grantees he chose. Not wanting to be mistaken a fourth time, Bassermann deferred making a choice; instead, a group of German actors made the decision.
Bassermann died from a heart attack whilst on a flight from New York to Zurich. He is buried in Mannheim.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes/Alternate Film Title |
| 1948 | The Red Shoes | Sergei Ratov | |
| 1947 | Escape Me Never | Prof. Heinrich | |
| 1947 | The Private Affairs of Bel Ami | Jacques Rival | |
| 1946 | The Searching Wind | Count von Stammer | |
| 1945 | Strange Holiday | The Day After Tomorrow | |
| 1945 | Rhapsody in Blue | Prof. Franck | |
| 1945 | I Was a Criminal | Wilhelm Voight, a Shoemaker | |
| 1944 | Since You Went Away | Dr. Sigmund Gottlieb Golden | |
| 1943 | Madame Curie | Prof. Jean Perot | |
| 1943 | Good Luck, Mr. Yates | Dr. Carl Hesser | |
| 1942 | Reunion in France | General Hugo Schroeder | |
| 1942 | Once Upon a Honeymoon | Gen. Borelski | |
| 1942 | The Moon and Sixpence | Dr. Coutras | |
| 1942 | Desperate Journey | Dr. Ludwig Mather | |
| 1942 | Invisible Agent | Arnold Schmidt | |
| 1942 | Fly-by-Night | Dr. Storm | |
| 1941 | The Shanghai Gesture | Van Elst | |
| 1941 | New Wine | Ludwig van Beethoven | |
| 1941 | A Woman's Face | Consul Magnus Barring | |
| 1940 | Moon Over Burma | Basil Renner | |
| 1940 | Escape | Dr. Arthur Henning | |
| 1940 | A Dispatch from Reuter's | Franz Geller | |
| 1940 | Knute Rockne All American | Father Julius Nieuwland | |
| 1940 | Foreign Correspondent | Van Meer | nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1940 | Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet | Dr. Robert Koch | |
| 1939 | Le Héros de la Marne | Col. von Gelow | |
| 1935 | Letzte Liebe | Last Love | |
| 1933 | Ein Gewisser Herr Gran | Tschernikoff, Kunsthändler | |
| 1931 | Voruntersuchung | Dr. Konrad Bienert | |
| 1931 | 1914, die letzten Tage vor dem Weltbrand | Count Hollweg | |
| 1931 | Gefahren der Liebe | Dr.Ringius | |
| 1931 | Kadetten | Cadets | |
| 1931 | Zum goldenen Anker | Piquoiseau | The Golden Anchor |
| 1930 | Dreyfus | Col. Picquart | The Dreyfus Case |
| 1930 | Alraune | Privy Councillor ten Brinken | Daughter of Evil |
| 1920 | Napoleon auf St. Helena | Gouverneur Hudson Lowe | |
| 1929 | Fräulein Else | Dr. Alfred Thalhof | |
| 1926 | Wenn das Herz der Jugend spricht | ||
| 1926 | Die Mühle von Sanssouci | Adjudant Buddenbrock | The Mill of Sanssouci |
| 1925 | Briefe, die ihn nicht erreichten | ||
| 1925 | Der Herr Generaldirektor | ||
| 1924 | Helena | Aisakos | Helen of Troy |
| 1923 | Alt Heidelberg | The Student Prince | |
| 1923 | Christoph Columbus | Columbus | |
| 1923 | Erdgeist | Dr. Schoen | Earth Spirit |
| 1923 | Der Mann mit der eisernen Maske | The Man with the Iron Mask | |
| 1922 | Lucrezia Borgia | Papst Alexander VI | |
| 1922 | Frauenopfer | Graf | Women's Sacrifice |
| 1922 | Das Weib des Pharao | Sothis | Pharaoh's Wife |
| 1921 | Die Kleine Dagmar | ||
| 1921 | Frauenarzt, Der | Dr. Wolfgang Holländer | |
| 1921 | Brennendes Land | ||
| 1921 | Die Nächte des Cornelis Brouwer | Cornelis Brouwer | |
| 1920 | Puppen des Todes | ||
| 1920 | Masken | ||
| 1920 | Die Söhne des Grafen Dossy | ||
| 1920 | Die Stimme | ||
| 1920 | Die Duplizität der Ereignisse | ||
| 1919 | Eine Schwache Stunde | ||
| 1919 | Der Letzte Zeuge | The Last Witness | |
| 1919 | Das Werk seines Lebens | ||
| 1918 | Dr. Schotte | ||
| 1918 | Die Brüder von Zaarden | ||
| 1918 | Vater und Sohn | ||
| 1918 | Lorenzo Burghardt | ||
| 1917 | Du sollst keine anderen Götter haben | ||
| 1917 | Der Eiserne Wille | ||
| 1917 | Herr und Diener | ||
| 1914 | Urteil des Arztes | Dr. Erwin Hofmüller | |
| 1913 | Der König | Provinzschauspieler | |
| 1913 | Der Andere | Dr. Hallers | The Other |
| 1913 | Der Letzte Tag | Professor Osterode |
