Conrad Veidt
Biography
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German silent film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of Ufa, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the Nazis came to power. They settled in Britain, where he participated in a number of films, including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United States around 1941, which lead to him having a supporting role in Casablanca (1942). From 1916 until his death, Veidt appeared in more than 100 films. One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), a classic of German Expressionist cinema, with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover. His starring role in The Man Who Laughs (1928), as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin, provided the (visual) inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker, created in 1940 by Bill Finger. Veidt also starred in other silent horror films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924), another film directed by Robert Wiene, The Student of Prague (1926) and Waxworks (1924) where he played Ivan the Terrible. Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfeld's film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919), one of the first films to sympathetically portray homosexuality, although the characters in it do not end up happily. He had a leading role in Germany's first talking picture, Das Land ohne Frauen (Land Without Women, 1929). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and made a few films, but the advent of talking pictures and his difficulty with speaking English led him to return to Germany. During this period he lent his expertise to tutoring aspiring performers, one of whom was the later American character actress Lisa Golm.
Known For
Cesare
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Major Heinrich Strasser
Casablanca
Dr. Warren
Der Janus-Kopf
Richard von Worth
Wenn Tote sprechen
Paul Orlac
Orlacs Hände
Ivan
Sehnsucht
Jaffar
The Thief of Bagdad
Hassert Seidel
Above Suspicion
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
The Man Who Laughs
Bankier Lorenzen
Wahnsinn
Balduin, Student
Der Student von Prag
Ivan the Terrible
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett
Torsten Barring
A Woman's Face
Der Tod / Various Other Roles
Unheimliche Geschichten
Franz Ebbing
All Through the Night
Self (archive footage)
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Nazi Agent
Schicksal
Joseph Jones
Whistling in the Dark
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Dark Journey
Captain Ernst Hardt
The Spy in Black
Liebe macht blind
Erik the Great
The Last Performance
General Gregori Platoff
Die Nacht der Entscheidung
Capt. Andersen
Contraband
King Louis XI
The Beloved Rogue
The Stranger
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
General Kurt von Kolb
Escape
Self (archive footage)
The Many Faces of Dracula
Gil de Berault
Under the Red Robe
Zurta
Rome Express
Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
The Wandering Jew
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
Jew Süss
Hellgum
Ingmarsarvet
Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Nju - Eine unverstandene Frau
Indian Priest
Furcht
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Das indische Grabmal, erster Teil: Die Sendung des Yoghi
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Das indische Grabmal, zweiter Teil: Der Tiger von Eschnapur
Der Maler
Der Gang in die Nacht
Hermann Gessler
Wilhelm Tell
Commandant Oberaertz
I Was a Spy
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
Die Flucht in die Nacht
Marquis de Pontignac
Ich und die Kaiserin
Le baron de Kempelen
Le Joueur d'échecs
Paul Körner
Anders als die Andern
Fürst Metternich
Der Kongress tanzt
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
Der schwarze Husar
Cesare Borgia
Lucrezia Borgia
Paul Hartwig, Maler
Dürfen wir schweigen?
Der Staatsanwalt
Kreuzzug des Weibes
Gessler
Wilhelm Tell
Professor Munk
Menschen im Rausch
Kingsley
Menschen im Käfig
Sir Percy Parker
Die Karten des Todes
Maj. Ellissen
F.P.1
Petre Karvan
Der Reigen - Ein Werdegang
Convict 83
King of the Damned
Satan
Der nicht vom Weibe Geborene
Jaffar (archival footage)
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Prince Metternich
Congress Dances
Alfred Werner
Die Prostitution, 1. Teil - Das gelbe Haus
Himself
Die große Sehnsucht
Wenzel Schellenberg / Michael Schellenberg
Die Brüder Schellenberg
Grigori Rasputin
Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen
Raphael, der Geiger
Landstraße und Großstadt
Hauptmann Burk
Die letzte Kompagnie
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
Der Mann, der den Mord beging
Peer Gynt - 2. Teil: Peer Gynts Wanderjahre und Tod
Frederic Chopin
Nocturno der Liebe
Die Japanerin
Dr. von Dossen
Die Mexikanerin
Opfer der Gesellschaft
Erich Keith
Tempête sur l'Asie
Stanislas Rosing
The Men in Her Life
Self
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Hauptmann Stanhope
Die andere Seite
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
Napoléon
Lord Nelson
Lady Hamilton
The clown
Nachtgestalten
Steinau
Der Spion
The devil
Kurfürstendamm
Renées Vater
Der Geiger von Florenz
Alfred Werner
Die Prostitution, 2. Teil - Die sich verkaufen
Phineas Fogg
Die Reise um die Erde in 80 Tagen
Mahmoud Baroudi
Bella Donna
Manolescu
Manolescus Memoiren
Christian Wahnschaffe
Weltbrand
Christian Wahnschaffe
Christian Wahnschaffe, 2. Teil: Die Flucht aus dem goldenen Kerker
Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
Opium
Don Carlos
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Niccolo Paganini
Paganini
Paul La Roche
A Man's Past
Self
Der Film im Film
Dr. Julius
Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen
Erik Norrensen
Dida Ibsens Geschichte
Der Leidensweg der Inge Krafft
Henryk von Rhyn
Colomba
Jalenko
Liebestaumel
Minister
Der Graf von Cagliostro
Carl Kraker
Prinz Kuckuck
Tossi
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Wilmos, sanatorium director
Moriturus
Dick Ashton
Das Land ohne Frauen
Comte Kostia
Le Comte Kostia
Gesetze der Liebe
Hektor Dalmore
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
Der Weg des Todes
Doktor Köstling
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
Doktor Köstling
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 2. Henriette Jacoby
Brilburn - Maud's brother
Abend – Nacht – Morgen
Schober
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Kramer
Es werde Licht! 4. Teil: Sündige Mütter
Dinja
Das Rätsel von Bangalor
Self
Die Filmstadt Hollywood
(archive footage)
Universal Horror
Die Okarina
Glanz gegen Glück
Künstlerlaunen
Johannes Kay
Die Augen der Welt
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall
Minor Role (rumored)
Danton
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
121
Gender
Male
Birthday
1893-01-22
Place of Birth
Berlin, Germany
Also Known As
Veidt