John Banner

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John Banner (born January 28, 1910 as Johann Banner in Stanislau , Galicia , † January 28, 1973 in Vienna ) was an American actor of Austrian origin.

Life

The son of Jewish parents, studied two semesters law before he got into acting. He began training at the drama school of the German People's Theater in Vienna. He experienced his first successes on March 13, 1932 with the world premiere of the play Witwen-Café , written by Robert Peiper (1902–1966), in Studio 32 of the Comedy in Vienna. From 1932 to 1933 Banner was engaged at the Bielitz City Theater , from 1934 to 1935 at the Reichenberg City Theater . Between 1935 and 1937 he played at the Deutsches Theater in Ostrau . After a two-year guest performance in Switzerland, he fled the Nazi persecution of Jews to the USA in 1938 . Although he did not speak English, he remained loyal to acting and initially only spoke his lyrics phonetically .

In New York, Banner found a job at the Music Box Theater in the musical revue From Vienna by the Refugee Artists Group. It also featured greats from US show business such as Moss Hart , Irving Berlin and Eddie Cantor , who were ready to support the Hitler refugees. After an engagement with the Broadway production Pastoral , he went to Hollywood in 1941. From 1943 until the end of the war, Banner served in the Army Air Corps.

During his Hollywood career, Banner repeatedly portrayed National Socialists and Eastern Europeans because of his accent. He made around 300 television appearances and 40 film roles, including alongside James Garner in the film 36 hours .

However, Banner only achieved its greatest popularity at a time when he was already thinking of quitting his acting career, namely from 1965 with the role of Sergeant Hans Georg Schultz in the television series A Cage Full of Heroes (original title: Hogan's Heroes).

After the filming of this series was completed, he retired to France with his second wife, Sherman Oaks , who came from Paris, although he is now a US citizen . John Banner died of gastric bleeding during a visit to friends in Vienna on his 63rd birthday in the Sophienspital . He was buried in the family grave of the Mauer cemetery in Vienna - group 57, row 2, number 26. The grave was re-occupied in 1988.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Rudolf Ulrich: Austrians in Hollywood. New edition, Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-901932-29-1 , p. 40

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johann banner on famousroots.com
  2. ↑ Art and Knowledge. (…) The comedy. In:  Arbeiter-Zeitung , No. 71/1932 (XLV. Volume), March 11, 1932, p. 6, column 3. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / aze.
personal data
SURNAME Banner, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Banner, Johann (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Austrian actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Ivano-Frankivsk
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1973
Place of death Vienna