Wolfgang Zilzer
Wolfgang Zilzer | |
---|---|
Born |
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | January 20, 1901
Died |
June 26, 1991 90) Berlin, Germany | (aged
Other names |
Paul Andor John Voight |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1915–1986 |
Wolfgang Zilzer (January 20, 1901 – June 26, 1991) was a German-American stage and film actor, often under the stage name Paul Andor.
Biography
Zilzer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German-Jewish emigrant Max Zilzer, who was engaged at the local theater. Zilzer's mother died soon after his birth, and his father returned to Germany in 1905.
Zilzer appeared on stage in child roles and made his first movie appearance in the age of 14. Around 1930, he moved back to the United States, but had only small success as an actor. He returned to Germany. According to a 1943 Jewish Telegraphic Agency newspaper article, he "was a featured player of UFA in the palmy days before the Furore [Hitler]",[1] but after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Zilzer fled to France, where he worked dubbing voices in several French versions of Hollywood productions. In 1935, Zilzer returned to Germany again, finally emigrating to the USA in 1937. Applying for a visa at the U.S. embassy, he first realized he already had US citizenship. After his emigration, he started to work with Ernst Lubitsch in several anti-Nazi movies, using pseudonyms[1] to protect his father, who was still living in Berlin. With appearances in films from 1915 to 1986, Zilzer had one of the longest careers in cinema history. The Internet Broadway Database lists a single credit for a Wolfgang Zilzer, in the 1943 play The Barber Had Two Sons.[2]
Zilzer married the German-Jewish actress Lotte Palfi; both appeared in the 1942 movie Casablanca. Zilzer played the man without a passport who is shot by French policemen at the beginning of the film. After World War II, Zilzer performed on stage in the United States and in Germany.
At the end of the 1980s Zilzer contracted Parkinson's disease and decided to return to Germany. His wife refused to do so, and their marriage ended in divorce after almost 50 years, close to both their deaths.
Wofgang Zilzer died in Berlin and is buried at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf.
Partial filmography
- Überlistet (1915)
- Professor Erichsons Rivale (1916)
- Das Verschnupfte Miezerl (1917)
- Die Spinne (1917)
- The Ancient Law (1923)
- Vineta. Die versunkene Stadt (1923)
- Venus im Frack (1927)
- Alpine Tragedy (1927)
- The Marriage Nest (1927)
- Mata Hari (1927)
- The Awakening of Woman (1927)
- Schwere Jungs - leichte Mädchen (1927)
- Die Geliebte des Gouverneurs (1927)
- The White Spider (1927)
- Alraune (1928)
- Sir or Madam (1928)
- Docks of Hamburg (1928)
- Thérèse Raquin (1928)
- The Right of the Unborn (1929)
- The Woman in the Advocate's Gown (1929)
- Crucified Girl (1929)
- Tragedy of Youth (1929)
- Revolt in the Reformatory (1929)
- Wibbel the Tailor (1931)
- Ever in My Heart (1933) (uncredited)
- Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) (uncredited)
- Crime Ring (1938) (uncredited)
- I'll Give a Million (1938) (uncredited)
- Hotel Imperial (1939)
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
- The Story That Couldn't Be Printed (1939 short) (uncredited)
- Espionage Agent (1939) (uncredited)
- Ninotchka (1939) (uncredited)
- Hitler - Beast of Berlin (1939)
- Television Spy (1939)
- Everything Happens at Night (1939) (uncredited)
- Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) (uncredited)
- Four Sons (1940) (uncredited)
- Three Faces West (1940) (uncredited)
- A Dispatch from Reuter's (1940) (uncredited)
- Escape (1940) (uncredited)
- Out of Darkness (1941 short) (uncredited)
- So Ends Our Night (1941) (uncredited)
- Forbidden Passage (1941 short)
- Shining Victory (1941) (uncredited)
- Underground (1941)
- World Premiere (1941) (uncredited)
- All Through the Night (1941) (uncredited)
- The Lady Has Plans (1942) (uncredited)
- To Be or Not to Be (1942) (uncredited)
- Joan of Ozark (1942)
- Invisible Agent (1942) (uncredited)
- Berlin Correspondent (1942) (uncredited)
- The Devil with Hitler (1942 short) (uncredited)
- Casablanca (1942) (uncredited)
- Margin for Error (1943) (uncredited)
- They Got Me Covered (1943) (uncredited)
- Assignment in Brittany (1943) (uncredited)
- They Came to Blow Up America (1943)
- Hitler's Madman (1943) (uncredited)
- Appointment in Berlin (1943) (uncredited)
- Bomber's Moon (1943)
- Behind the Rising Sun (1943) (uncredited)
- The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler (1943)
- Paris After Dark (1943) (uncredited)
- In Our Time (1944) (uncredited)
- They Live in Fear (1944) (uncredited)
- Enemy of Women (1944) (as Paul Andor)
- Hotel Berlin (1945) (uncredited)
- Counter-Attack (1945) (as Paul Andor)
- Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) (uncredited)
- Stairway to Light (1945 short) (uncredited)
- Carnegie Hall (1947) (uncredited)
- Women in the Night (1948) (as Paul Ander)
- Claudia: The Story of a Marriage (1952 TV series)
- Walk East on Beacon! (1952) (as Paul Andor)
- Singing in the Dark (1956) (as Paul Andor)
- The United States Steel Hour (1957 TV episode "The Bottle Imp")
- Terror After Midnight (1962)
- No Survivors, Please (1964)
- Mister Buddwing (1966) (uncredited)
- The Diary of Anne Frank (1967 TV movie)
- Union City (1980) (as Paul Andor)
- Lovesick (1983) (as Paul Andor)
- FDR: A One Man Show (1986 TV movie) (as Paul Andor)
References
- 1 2 Helen Zigmond (August 27, 1943). "Our Film Folk (column)". Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. JTA – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Wolfgang Zilzer at the Internet Broadway Database
External links
- Wolfgang Zilzer at the Internet Movie Database
- Biography of Casablanca- actors
- Photographs of Wolfgang Zilzer
- Wolfgang Zilzer at Find a Grave
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