Conrad Veidt
Acting
Born: January 22, 1893 · Berlin, Germany
Died: April 3, 1943 (aged 50)
Highest Rated
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
Casablanca
1943
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
1920
The Thief of Bagdad
1940
The Man Who Laughs
1928
Napoleon
1927
The Hands of Orlac
1924
A Woman's Face
1941
All Through the Night
1942
Waxworks
1924
The Spy in Black
1939
Different from the Others
1919
Above Suspicion
1943
Photos (2)
Movies (94)
Casablanca
Major Heinrich Strasser
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Cesare
The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar
The Man Who Laughs
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
Napoleon
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
A Woman's Face
Torsten Barring
All Through the Night
Franz Ebbing
The Hands of Orlac
Paul Orlac
Above Suspicion
Hassert Seidel
Eerie Tales
Der Tod / Various Other Roles
The Last Performance
Erik the Great
Contraband
Capt. Andersen
Rome Express
Zurta
Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
Ivan
Dark Journey
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Paganini
Niccolo Paganini
Danton
Minor Role (rumored)
Escape
General Kurt von Kolb
Lady Hamilton
Lord Nelson
The Beloved Rogue
King Louis XI
Bella Donna
Mahmoud Baroudi
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Schober
Tempête sur l'Asie
Erich Keith
Figures of the Night
The clown
Universal Horror
(archive footage)
Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
Christian Wahnschaffe
Whistling in the Dark
Joseph Jones
Nazi Agent
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Der Weg des Todes
1917
The Merry-Go-Round
Petre Karvan
The Spy in Black
Captain Ernst Hardt
Colomba
Henryk von Rhyn
Opium
Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Tossi
I Was a Spy
Commandant Oberaertz
Moriturus
Wilmos, sanatorium director
Waxworks
Ivan the Terrible
The Story of Dida Ibsen
Erik Norrensen
The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Jew Süss
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
The Mystery of Bangalore
Dinja
The Count of Cagliostro
Minister
The Wandering Jew
Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
Doktor Köstling
The Japanese Woman
1919
The Wife's Crusade
Der Staatsanwalt
Wenn Tote sprechen
Richard von Worth
The Other Side
Hauptmann Stanhope
Husbands or Lovers
Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Le Comte Kostia
Comte Kostia
The Black Hussar
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
The Chess Player
Le baron de Kempelen
Fear
Indian Priest
Different from the Others
Paul Körner
Landstraße und Großstadt
Raphael, der Geiger
Congress Dances
Fürst Metternich
Lucrezia Borgia
Cesare Borgia
The Men in Her Life
Stanislas Rosing
The Student of Prague
Balduin, Student
The Head of Janus
Dr. Warren
King of the Damned
Convict 83
Evening – Night – Morning
Brilburn - Maud's brother
The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
The Flight in the Night
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
Grigori Rasputin
The Love Storm
Kingsley
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
1927
Prostitution
Alfred Werner
The Only Girl
Marquis de Pontignac
Should We Be Silent?
Paul Hartwig, Maler
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
The Stranger
Journey into the Night
Der Maler
Wilhelm Tell
Hermann Gessler
People in Ecstasy
Professor Munk
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Don Carlos
Under the Red Robe
Gil de Berault
The Man Who Committed the Murder
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
A Man's Past
Paul La Roche
Love Is Blind
1926
The Last Company
Hauptmann Burk
The Night of the Decision
General Gregori Platoff
Around the World in 80 Days
Phineas Fogg
Diary of a Lost Woman
Dr. Julius
Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
Christian Wahnschaffe
Prinz Kuckuck
Carl Kraker
The Ingmar Inheritance
Hellgum
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 2. Henriette Jacoby
Doktor Köstling
F.P.1
Maj. Ellissen
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
Hektor Dalmore
Prostitution II
Alfred Werner
Impetuous Youth
Renées Vater
Es werde Licht! 4. Teil: Sündige Mütter
Kramer
Das Land ohne Frauen
Dick Ashton
Not of the Woman Born
Satan
