Bernhard Goetzke

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Bernhard Goetzke around 1922 on a photograph by Alexander Binder

Bernhard Goetzke (born June 5, 1884 in Danzig ; † October 7, 1964 in West Berlin ) was a German stage and film actor . He is considered to be one of the most distinctive and formative faces of German silent film.

Career

After training as an actor, he worked at theaters in Hagen and Dresden , later at Max Reinhardt's theaters in Berlin and for decades at the Schiller Theater.

From 1917 Goetzke could be seen in films. His most important and best-known role in the film is the impressive portrayal of death in Fritz Lang's Der müde Tod 1921. In the following years Goetzke was seen in almost all of Lang's works, including 1922 as a public prosecutor in Dr. Mabuse, the player and in 1924 as Volker von Alzey in Die Nibelungen . In 1925 he took on the leading role of engineer Kramer in Gerhard Lamprecht's social drama Die Verrufenen and also played in its successor Die Illegelichen 1926. In the same year, Alfred Hitchcock cast him in the leading role of his (lost) film Der Bergadler ( The Mountain Eagle ). He had his last leading role in 1929 in Salamander , one of the first German-Soviet co-productions. Even after the rise of the talkie, Goetzke continued his career in smaller and larger supporting roles. Goetzke acted in up to ten films a year until 1933, including in many French and Italian productions, as well as in English, Hungarian, Soviet and even Finnish productions. When the National Socialists came to power, however, his workload decreased noticeably. During the Second World War Goetzke appeared in over twenty films, but here mostly as an insignificant supporting character. The late works include classics such as Münchhausen and Die goldene Spinne , but also propaganda films such as Jud Suss and I Accuse . After 1945 he devoted himself to work in the theater and on the radio, he was only very rarely in front of the camera, most recently in 1961 in the television film Elizabeth of England .

During the National Socialist era , shortly before the end of the war, he was included in the God-gifted list.

Filmography (selection)

theatre

Radio plays

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 3: F - H. John Barry Fitzgerald - Ernst Hofbauer. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 .
  • Bernhard Götzke In Moscow (about Götzke's collaboration on the film Salamander ). In: Weekly report by the Society for Cultural Connection between the Soviet Union and Abroad , 4th year 1928, No. 32–33, p. 18 (with picture).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Goetzke. Retrieved February 28, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Harry Waibel : Servants of many masters. Former Nazi functionaries in the Soviet Zone / GDR. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-63542-1 , pp. 106-107.
personal data
SURNAME Goetzke, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1964
Place of death Berlin