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