Max Willenz

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Max Willenz (born September 22, 1888 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † November 8, 1954 in Los Angeles , United States ) was an Austrian actor .

Live and act

Max Willenz made his debut in 1907 as a choir member of the Carl-Theater in Vienna . In 1908 he went to the Lustspielhaus in Munich and in the 1910/11 season to the Royal City Theater of Amsterdam . Since then, Max Willenz has worked on theaters in Vienna such as the Raimund Theater as well as in Berlin venues such as the Theater am Nollendorfplatz , where he performed small roles in both classic and modern pieces.

After the First World War , Willenz only appeared sporadically in the film. This only changed when he fled to the USA in April 1938, following an invitation from Max Reinhardt . First, however, Willenz played theater in New York and appeared in December of the same year as Rudolph in Reinhardt's Broadway production The Merchant of Yonkers (based on a model by Thornton Wilder ). Smaller commitments like something as an emcee followed.

Since 1941 Max Willenz found employment in Hollywood and, like so many other emigrants from Germany and Austria, received small to small roles in war productions . Mostly he was cast as "exotic" by the service or as a German and embodied waiters, policemen, officers, tailors, small employees or, as most recently in Blondes, preferably at the side of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell , a court usher. In February 1944 Willenz was naturalized in the USA.

Filmography

literature

  • Kay Less : "In life, more is taken from you than given ...". Lexicon of filmmakers who emigrated from Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945. A general overview. Acabus-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8 , p. 544 f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Willenz, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian actor
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 1954
Place of death Los Angeles , United States