Francis Lederer

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Francis Lederer (1932)

Francis Lederer , actually Franz Lederer , Czech also František Lederer (born November 6, 1899 in Carolinenthal near Prague , then Austria-Hungary ; † May 25, 2000 in Palm Springs , California ) was an Austrian - Czechoslovak actor. In German-language films he appears under his baptismal name "Franz Lederer", in American films as "Francis Lederer".

Life and work

Franz Lederer grew up bilingual near Prague as the son of Jewish parents and was already earning money as a theater actor in the 1910s. After taking acting classes with Roman Reinhardt, he began studying at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in 1918 and received his first engagement in 1919 at the New German Theater in Prague. In the following years he also appeared on German stages, where he had enjoyed success as a young lover since 1925.

As a film actor he made his debut in Carl Froelich's melodrama Refuge in 1928 , in which he played the lead role alongside Henny Porten . He made one of his most famous films in 1929 when he starred alongside Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box , GW Pabst's adaptation of Wedekind 's drama of the same name . He had another success in Hanns Schwarz 's film The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrovna , a variant of the stage classic Lady of the Camellias , which showed him alongside Brigitte Helm .

Thanks to his stage experience, Lederer made the leap to sound film without any problems. He made his debut in the new medium in 1929 in Atlantic , in which EA Dupont interpreted the story of the sinking of the Titanic . One of the more well-known films from the time was the participation alongside the then very popular Hollywood actress Anna May Wong in the German language version of Richard Eichberg's Hai-Tang. The road to shame .

The actor moved to the United States in 1932 after various theater engagements in the United Kingdom , where he was successful on Broadway in 1932 with Autumn Crocus . With a film contract with Paramount Pictures , he went to Hollywood , where the studio tried to make him big in the role of the continental lover, succeeding Maurice Chevalier . The studio changed its name to Francis Lederer , which was easier to pronounce for the American audience. Overall, however, his career remained below the level he had in Europe. Despite occasional leading roles in inexpensive comedies like Novak Loves America alongside Ginger Rogers and in William Wyler's The Gay Deception , he mostly played supporting roles in A-films such as Mitchell Leisen's comedy Unveiling at Midnight .

One of the few leading roles he still got towards the end of the 1930s was the part in Anatole Litvak's Confessions of a Nazi Spy , which featured Lederer in 1939 alongside Edward G. Robinson as a German secret agent. With the exception of The Bridge of San Luis Rey from 1944, the film adaptation of Thornton Wilder 's novel of the same name , in which he starred alongside Alla Nazimova , most films of the time were routine productions. In 1958, Francis Lederer began a brief second career as a horror film actor. As the vampire count Dracula, he appeared in The Return of Dracula from 1958. The following year, in Terror is a Man , Lederer was a mad scientist who turned a panther into a murderous human-like creature.

Francis Lederer, Joan Camden and film director Emil-Edwin Reinert during the filming of Stolen Identity , Vienna, 1952

In addition to his acting work as a pacifist, he was also politically active since the 1930s . In 1934 he founded the World Peace Federation . In 1940 he was accused by a White House committee of sympathizing with the Communists, but was eventually exonerated. Lederer was one of the earliest members of the Screen Actors Guild and was president of the American National Academy of Performing Arts , or ANTA for short .

Lederer was married to Ada Nejedly in the 1920s. After a brief marriage to the Mexican-American film actress Margo , it held its third nearly 60 years. In later years, Lederer, who had come to be a wealthy broker, ran a large ranch in Canoga Park.

Filmography

German films, unless otherwise stated:

American films, unless otherwise noted:

documentation

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lederer, Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lederer, Franz; Lederer, František
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Carolinenthal near Prague
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 2000
Place of death Palm Springs (California)