Gustav Fröhlich

Gustav Fröhlich (March 21, 1902 – December 22, 1987) was a German actor. He landed secondary roles in a number of films and plays before landing his breakthrough role of Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis.

Biography

Fröhlich was born in Hannover, Germany, and was raised by foster parents. Before becoming an actor in the mid 1920s, he was an editor and a journalist. During World War I he volunteered for a duty in the occupied Brussels as the press' supervisor.

In 1922 he played the role of composer Franz Liszt in Paganini, and in 1930 he was called to Hollywood to play roles in German versions of American films such as Die heilige Flamme and Kismet.

Between 1931 and 1935, Fröhlich was married to Hungarian opera star, and actress Gitta Alpar, with whom he had a child, Julika. He was engaged to the actress Lida Baarova until she became involved with the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. In 1937, he rented his house in Berchtesgaden to Hitler's architect, Albert Speer. In 1941 he married Maria Hajek. In the same year he served the Wehrmacht Landschützen-Regiment.

Fröhlich gradually retired from the film business, and from 1956 he lived in Lugano, Switzerland, where he died in 1987, of complication from surgery.

Filmography

External links

• Gustav Fröhlich at the Internet Movie Database
• Photographs of Gustav Fröhlich