Conrad Veidt
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1893-01-22
Day of Death
1943-04-03 (50 years old)
Place of Birth
Berlin, Germany
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
Acting
(2008)
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
as Jaffar (archival footage)
(2000)
The Many Faces of Dracula
as Self (archive footage)
(1998)
Universal Horror
as (archive footage)
(1974)
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
as Self (archive footage)
(1943)
Casablanca
as Major Heinrich Strasser
(1943)
Above Suspicion
as Hassert Seidel
(1942)
Nazi Agent
as Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
(1942)
All Through the Night
as Franz Ebbing
(1941)
A Woman's Face
as Torsten Barring
(1941)
Whistling in the Dark
as Joseph Jones
(1941)
The Men in Her Life
as Stanislas Rosing
(1940)
The Thief of Bagdad
as Jaffar
(1940)
Escape
as General Kurt von Kolb
(1940)
(1940)
Contraband
as Capt. Andersen
(1939)
The Spy in Black
as Captain Ernst Hardt
(1938)
The Chess Player
as Le baron de Kempelen
(1938)
Tempête sur l'Asie
as Erich Keith
(1937)
Under the Red Robe
as Gil de Berault
(1937)
Dark Journey
as Baron Karl Von Marwitz
(1935)
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
as The Stranger
(1935)
King of the Damned
as Convict 83
(1934)
Jew Süss
as Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
(1934)
Wilhelm Tell
as Gessler
(1934)
Bella Donna
as Mahmoud Baroudi
(1933)
The Wandering Jew
as Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
(1933)
F.P.1
as Maj. Ellissen
(1933)
I Was a Spy
as Commandant Oberaertz
(1933)
The Only Girl
as Marquis de Pontignac
(1932)
Rome Express
as Zurta
(1932)
The Black Hussar
as Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
(1932)
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
as Grigori Rasputin
(1931)
The Other Side
as Hauptmann Stanhope
(1931)
The Congress Dances
as Fürst Metternich
(1931)
(1931)
The Man Who Committed the Murder
as Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
(1931)
Congress Dances
as Prince Metternich
(1930)
The Great Passion
as Himself
(1930)
The Love Storm
as Kingsley
(1930)
The Last Company
as Hauptmann Burk
(1929)
The Last Performance
as Erik the Great
(1929)
Das Land ohne Frauen
as Dick Ashton
(1928)
The Man Who Laughs
as Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
(1928)
The Movie City of Hollywood
as Self
(1927)
Napoleon
as Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
(1927)
The Beloved Rogue
as King Louis XI
(1927)
(1927)
A Man's Past
as Paul La Roche
(1926)
The Student of Prague
as Balduin, Student
(1926)
The Flight in the Night
as Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
(1926)
Two Brothers
as Wenzel Schellenberg / Michael Schellenberg
(1926)
The Wife's Crusade
as Der Staatsanwalt
(1926)
(1926)
Impetuous Youth
as Renées Vater
(1926)
Should We Be Silent?
as Paul Hartwig, Maler
(1925)
(1925)
Le Comte Kostia
as Comte Kostia
(1925)
The Ingmar Inheritance
as Hellgum
(1924)
Waxworks
as Ivan the Terrible
(1924)
The Hands of Orlac
as Paul Orlac
(1924)
Husbands or Lovers
as Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
(1924)
The Film in the Film
as Self
(1924)
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
as Don Carlos
(1923)
Paganini
as Niccolo Paganini
(1923)
Wilhelm Tell
as Hermann Gessler
(1923)
(1922)
Lucrezia Borgia
as Cesare Borgia
(1921)
The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
as Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
(1921)
Lady Hamilton
as Lord Nelson
(1921)
(1921)
Journey into the Night
as Der Maler
(1921)
The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
as Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
(1921)
Landstraße und Großstadt
as Raphael, der Geiger
(1921)
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
as Tossi
(1921)
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
as Hektor Dalmore
(1921)
Menschen im Rausch
as Professor Munk
(1921)
Liebestaumel
as Jalenko
(1921)
Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
as Christian Wahnschaffe
(1921)
(1920)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
as Cesare
(1920)
Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
as Christian Wahnschaffe
(1920)
The Head of Janus
as Dr. Warren
(1920)
The Count of Cagliostro
as Minister
(1920)
Figures of the Night
as The clown
(1920)
Manolescu's Memoirs
as Manolescu
(1920)
Kurfürstendamm
as The devil
(1920)
The Merry-Go-Round
as Petre Karvan
(1920)
(1920)
Patience
as Sir Percy Parker
(1920)
Die Augen der Welt
as Johannes Kay
(1920)
Moriturus
as Wilmos, sanatorium director
(1920)
Evening – Night – Morning
as Brilburn - Maud's brother
(1920)
(1919)
Opium
as Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
(1919)
Different from the Others
as Paul Körner
(1919)
(1919)
Eerie Tales
as Der Tod / Various Other Roles
(1919)
Around the World in 80 Days
as Phineas Fogg
(1919)
Prostitution
as Alfred Werner
(1919)
Wahnsinn
as Bankier Lorenzen
(1919)
Prostitution II
as Alfred Werner
(1919)
Prinz Kuckuck
as Carl Kraker
(1919)
(1919)
Die Mexikanerin
as Dr. von Dossen
(1919)
Nocturno der Liebe
as Frederic Chopin
(1919)
(1919)
(1918)
Colomba
as Henryk von Rhyn
(1918)
Diary of a Lost Woman
as Dr. Julius
(1918)
(1918)
The Story of Dida Ibsen
as Erik Norrensen
(1918)
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
as Doktor Köstling
(1918)
Das Dreimäderlhaus
as Schober
(1918)
Not of the Woman Born
as Satan
(1918)
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 2. Henriette Jacoby
as Doktor Köstling
(1918)
Das Rätsel von Bangalor
as Dinja
(1917)
Fear
as Indian Priest
(1917)
Der Spion
as Steinau
(1917)
Wenn Tote sprechen
as Richard von Worth
(1917)
Crew
(1920)
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall
Director, Producer
(1919)
Wahnsinn
Director