Otto fee

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Otto Fee, photograph (around 1928) by Alexander Binder

Otto Fee (born May 29, 1877 in Kettwig / Ruhr , † March 13, 1954 in Wiesbaden ) was a German actor. He became famous in the role of the Prussian King Frederick the Great , which he played in twelve films between 1920 and 1942.

Life

Fee was the son of the factory owner Otto Fee and his wife Fanny Mathilde, née Moll, and was supposed to be a businessman. Growing up in Hülsenbusch , a district of Gummersbach , and after his father's death in Cologne, he attended the Friesenstrasse Citizens' School in Cologne from 1883 , the Realgymnasium from 1887 and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium from 1890 . He then completed a commercial apprenticeship in the wool wholesaler M. Michels & Co.

From 1896 Fee worked as a correspondent for Hergersberg & Co. in Berlin . He also took acting lessons. He initially earned his living as a traveling actor until he got a job at the Stadttheater Görlitz , where he made his debut in 1897. From 1898 to 1908 he worked at the Royal Court Theater in Dresden , then at the Lessing Theater in Berlin.

During the First World War he was a volunteer with the 3rd Guards Field Artillery Regiment and made it up to lieutenant . He then worked from 1917 to 1919 for Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater Berlin . At the same time his film work began, mediated by his fellow actor Paul Wegener .

Due to his resemblance to Frederick the Great, Otto Fee found his life role in numerous films, which initially conveyed anti-republican ideas and , after 1933, national socialist ideas. He first played this role in the 1919 film The Dancer Barberina . In the following year, the shooting of the four-part film Fridericus Rex began , in which the story of the Prussian king is the focus for the first time. The role of the Prussian King determined his entire career as a film actor. In 1938 he received the title of State Actor .

During the Third Reich he was regarded as an "indispensable creator of culture". He played (again as Friedrich II.) The main role in the propaganda monumental film The Great King (1942). In 1944 Joseph Goebbels put him on the God-gifted list of indispensable artists.

After 1945 Fee was banned from performing; some of his films have been indexed. From 1947, Fee appeared again in the theater. Until his death he played in entertainment films (Heimatfilme), again under the direction of Veit Harlan . From 1910 he was married to Cornelia Bertha Julius, mother of his daughter Hilde Fee (1910–1945), who also became an actress. From 1942 to 1950 the actress Doris Krüger (1913–1950) was his second wife. His son, the prehistorian Michael Fee (* 1942) comes from this marriage .

former grave

Otto Fee died of a heart attack before the film Rosen-Resli was finished . He was buried in the Sophien-Friedhof III in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen . His grave was dedicated to the city of Berlin as an honor grave until 2014 .

Fee spent the summers for many years in Kloster on Hiddensee near Gerhart Hauptmann .

His written estate is in the archive of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Filmography (as Frederick the Great )

Otto Fee as Friedrich the Great on a poster for the 1936 film Fridericus
Part 1 - Sturm und Drang
Part 2 - father and son
Part 3 - Sanssouci
Part 4 - turning point

Filmography (selection)

literature

Web links

Commons : Otto Fee  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ IMDb names March 14, 1954 as the date of death, all other biographies March 13, 1954.
  2. ↑ Uta Britta Vollhardt: Biographical Lexicon for the Third Reich . Ed .: Hermann Weiß. 2nd Edition. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2011, ISBN 978-3-596-13086-3 , pp. 140 .
  3. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 (= The time of National Socialism. Vol. 17153). Completely revised edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17153-8 , p. 157.
  4. ↑ Uta Britta Vollhardt: Biographical Lexicon for the Third Reich . Ed .: Hermann Weiß. 2nd Edition. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2011, ISBN 978-3-596-13086-3 , pp. 140 .
  5. ^ Knerger.de: The grave of Otto Fee
  6. ↑ Hiddensee artist colonies. Retrieved May 18, 2018 .
  7. ^ Otto-Fee-Archive inventory overview on the website of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.
  8. ^ The Liaisons of Hella von Gilsa 1925. Illustrated Film Week 1926, accessed on May 9, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Fee, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Kettwig
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1954
Place of death Wiesbaden