Oskar Homolka

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Oskar Homolka (1932)

Oskar Homolka (born August 12, 1898 in Vienna , † January 28, 1978 in Tunbridge Wells , Kent ) was an Austrian actor .

Life

Homolka completed his acting training at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna , where he also made his theater debut. Further stage stops were Munich (including as an actor in the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht's Life of Edward II of England ) and Berlin, where he played under Max Reinhardt from 1925 .

Homolka made his feature film debut in 1926. Due to his massive stature and bushy eyebrows, he was often cast for dark roles, for example in Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 thriller Sabotage .

After the Nazis came to power, Homolka emigrated to England in 1934 and then to the United States , where he worked on Broadway and also took on roles in Hollywood productions. He starred opposite Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne in the film comedy Seven Sinners , next to John Barrymore as a parody of a mob boss in the science fiction film The Invisible Woman , next to Ronald Reagan in the war drama POW (Prisoner of War) , alongside Marilyn Monroe in the literary film adaptation of the 7th year itch and alongside Katharine Hepburn in a film adaptation of Jean Giraudoux 's play of the same name The Irre von Chaillot .

Often Homolka was cast as a Russian due to his appearance and his strong European accent (and also assumed to be one), for example in the role of Tsarist General Kutuzov alongside Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda in the Tolstoy film adaptation of War and Peace and as the KGB - Chief and adversary Colonel Stock in the Harry Palmer thrillers with Michael Caine based on Len Deighton . Homolka received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1948 for his role in the film drama Mystery of the Mother .

In 1951 the actor returned to Austria to play the village judge Adam in the Berthold-Viertel production of Kleist's comedy Der zerbrochne Krug at the Salzburg Festival . His partner as Mrs. Marthe Rull was Therese Giehse . The production was then shown at the Burgtheater in Vienna .

Oskar Homolka was married four times, among others with fellow actors Grete Mosheim (1928–1937) and Joan Tetzel (from 1949 until her death in 1977). Homolka died of pneumonia in England in 1978.

Awards

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Rudolf Ulrich: Oskar Homolka - actor. In: Austria Journal. Issue 87, August 31, 2010, ( online ), pp. 90–91.
  • 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. P. 249 f., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8

Web links

Commons : Oskar Homolka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography page 90/91 (PDF; 11.1 MB) on OE-Journal.at (accessed on May 14, 2011)
personal data
SURNAME Homolka, Oskar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Homolka, Oscar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1978
Place of death Tunbridge Wells , Kent