| Paul Hörbiger | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 April 1894 Budapest Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 5 March 1981 (aged 86) Vienna Austria |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1928–1974 |
Paul Hörbiger (29 April 1894 – 5 March 1981) was an Austrian theatre and film actor.[1]
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Paul Hörbiger was born in Budapest, the son of Hans Hörbiger, an engineer who wrote Welteislehre on glacial cosmology, and elder brother of actor Attila Hörbiger. In 1902 the family returned to Vienna, while Paul attended the gymnasium (grammar or high school) at St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal. In World War I he served in a mountain artillery regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army, discharged in 1918 with the rank of an Oberleutnant.
Paul Hörbiger began his acting career in 1919 at the city theatre of Liberec (Reichenberg) and from 1920 performed at the New German Theatre in Prague. In 1926 his fame grew after he was employed by Max Reinhardt at the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, reaching a high point with his appointment at the Vienna Burgtheater in 1940.
From 1928 he appeared in more than 250 films, mostly lightweight comedies of the Wiener Film genre popular among German and Austrian audiences during the 1930s and 40s. In 1936 he established his own filming company Algefa jointly with director E. W. Emo. Though in 1938 he had openly acclaimed the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany and smoothly continued his career in propaganda films like Wunschkonzert or Die grosse Liebe, he was arrested for treason in the late days of World War II.
After the war he remained one of the most popular German-speaking film actors in numerous Heimatfilme, again performing as the warm-hearted Viennese type and Heurigen singer, often together with Hans Moser and director Franz Antel. In his later years he again concentrated on theatre acting at the Burgtheater.
In 1921 he married the actress Josepha Gettke with whom he had four children. Hörbiger died in Vienna aged 86 and is buried in an Ehrengrab at the Vienna Zentralfriedhof. The actors Christian Tramitz and Mavie Hörbiger are grandchildren of Paul Hörbiger.