Egon Brecher
| Egon Brecher | |
|---|---|
 Egon Brecher | |
| Born |
18 February 1880 Olomouc, Czechoslovakia formerly Olmütz, Austria-Hungary |
| Died |
12 October 1946 (aged 66) Hollywood, California, USA |
Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1903–1946 |
Egon Brecher (February 18, 1880 – August 12, 1946) was a Czechoslovakian stage actor and director who toured Austria and Germany acting on the stage, and also served as the chief director of the Stadts Theatre in Vienna, before entering the motion picture industry.
Career
Born as a son of a professor, he began to study philosophy in 1900 at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He did not finish his studies, because he decided to become an actor. He debuted either in 1900 (according to Zalmen Zylbercwaig) in the play Das neue Ghetto (The new ghetto) by Theodor Herzl or in 1903 on the Vienna stage in Grillparzer′s Sappho. He played on several province stages in Germany and Austria until 1910 and then played in Vienna on stages directed by Josef Jarno until 1921. Besides, in 1907, he founded an initiative (which lasted for something like one or two years) to play modern yiddish theatre in German language with Siegfried Schmitz and members of the student club ‘Theodor Herzl’ like Hugo Zuckermann and Oskar Rosenfeld. In 1919 he was co-founder of the Freie Jüdische Volksbühne in Vienna, a yiddish stage, which existed for three years.
Then, in 1921, he went to Broadway, to act there. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s to appear in foreign-language versions of American films. In the mid-1930s he appeared in classic horror films The Black Cat, Werewolf of London, The Black Room, Mark of the Vampire and The Devil-Doll, and worked steadily in the espionage films of the 30s and 40s, his Slavic accent landing him roles both noble and villainous. One of his largest screen roles was in 1946's So Dark the Night. He died that same year of a heart attack.
Partial filmography
- The Royal Box (1929)
- To the Last Man (1933)
- The Black Cat (1934)
- Many Happy Returns (1934)
- Mark of the Vampire (1935) (uncredited)
- The Florentine Dagger (1935)
- Black Fury (1935)
- Werewolf of London (1935) (uncredited)
- The Black Room (1935) (uncredited)
- Charlie Chan's Secret (1936)
- Boulder Dam (1936)
- Till We Meet Again (1936)
- Sins of Man (1936)
- The White Angel (1936)
- The Devil-Doll (1936) (uncredited)
- Alibi for Murder (1936)
- Ladies in Love (1936)
- Black Legion (1937)
- Stolen Holiday (1937)
- Espionage (1937)
- I Met Him in Paris (1937)
- Thin Ice (1937)
- Heidi (1937)
- The Spy Ring (1938)
- Invisible Enemy (1938)
- You and Me (1938)
- Suez (1938)
- Devil's Island (1939) as Debriac
- The Three Musketeers (1939)
- The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)
- Espionage Agent (1939)
- Judge Hardy and Son (1939)
- I Was an Adventuress (1940)
- Four Sons (1940) as Richter
- The Man I Married (1940)
- Man Hunt (1941)
- Underground (1941)
- They Dare Not Love (1941)
- Manpower (1941)
- Kings Row (1942)
- Isle of Missing Men (1942)
- A Royal Scandal (1945)
- White Pongo (1945)
- O.S.S. (1946)
- So Dark the Night (1946)
Literature
- Brigitte Dalinger: Verloschene Sterne. Geschichte des jüdischen Theaters in Wien. (History of Jewish theatre in Vienna) Picus Verlag, Wien 1998, p. 65 and 198
References
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Egon Brecher. |
- Egon Brecher at the Internet Movie Database
- Egon Brecher at the Internet Broadway Database
- Egon Brecher at AllRovi
- Egon Brecher at Find a Grave
|