Wolfgang Zilzer

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Wolfgang Zilzer , pseudonym Paul Andor and John Voight , (born January 20, 1901 in Cincinnati , Ohio , USA ; † June 26, 1991 in Berlin ) was a German-American actor .

Life

Zilzer was born to German-Jewish parents in the USA, because his father Max Zilzer was engaged as an actor at a theater there. The mother died shortly after Wolfgang was born. At the age of 4 he came to Germany with his father and soon made a career on stage as a popular child actor . He made his first film at the age of 14 . Leading and supporting roles followed in numerous silent films , where Zilzer established himself as an actor of shy and reserved characters.

At the turn of the decade 1929/30 Zilzer recorded records for the newly founded Berlin-based “Kristall” as a refrain singer with the orchestras of Herbert Fröhlich and Bernard Etté . Two recordings with him on the Kalliope label are known from the “Berliner Rundfunk-Kapelle” Gerhard Hoffmann .

In the early 1930s, Zilzer tried his luck in the United States, but only got smaller roles there. He returned to Germany and fled to the seizure of power of the Nazis to Paris , where he attended the French-language versions of some of Hollywood participated productions.

In 1935 Zilzer went back to Germany again and got involved in the Jewish Cultural Association . In 1937 he left Germany for good, only on this occasion found out that he was automatically in possession of the US citizenship due to his birth in the United States and got some roles in films by Ernst Lubitsch in Hollywood . For appearances in anti-Nazi strips, Zilzer initially chose the pseudonym John Voight (also Voigt ) so as not to endanger his father, who was still living in Berlin. Nevertheless, his father Max Zilzer, also an actor, was confronted with photos of his son from the anti-Nazi film Confessions of a Nazi Spy during a Gestapo interrogation in 1943 and died shortly afterwards under unexplained circumstances in a hospital. Later Wolfgang Zilzer took on the stage name Paul Andor .

While filming, he met the Jewish actress Lotte Palfi , who fled Germany in 1934 . Both also starred in the cult film Casablanca in 1942 . Her small roles as "The Man with the Expired Papers" and "The Woman Who Has to Sell Her Diamonds" did not lead to any mention of their names in the credits , but remained in permanent memory with the flick's growing fan base.

When Hollywood's need for German character actors diminished after the war , Wolfgang Zilzer and Lotte Palfi-Andor returned to the stage (e.g., in June 1945 appearance in Bertolt Brecht's Fear and Misery of the Third Reich , directed by Berthold Viertel ). Zilzer also found engagements in Germany again and again. After his wife had attracted some attention in 1976 in the thriller The Marathon Man (with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier ), the two came back to small film roles in Hollywood in old age.

At the end of the 1980s, Wolfgang Zilzer fell seriously ill with Parkinson's and returned to Germany to die there. Lotte Palfi-Andor did not want to follow this step. The marriage was divorced shortly before both deaths in 1991.

His grave is located in the Zehlendorf forest cemetery in Berlin-Nikolassee .

Filmography (selection)

Audio documents

The catalog of the music archive at DNB includes 11 titles by Zilzer:

  • Crystal Electro Record:

3083 (mx. C 505.1) If Elisabeth didn't have such beautiful legs. Foxtrot (Katscher, Farkas, Herczeg) from “Die Wunder-Bar” / (mx C 507.1) Can you forgive me again. Lied and Tango (Katscher, Farkas, Herczeg) from “Die Wunder-Bar” Herbert Fröhlich and his orchestra. Refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer.

3084 (mx. C 509) Don't always look at the tango violinist! Song u. Tango (music and text: Friedrich Hollaender) Herbert Fröhlich and his orchestra. Refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer

Imperial 3094 (mx. C 510.1) Veronika, spring is here. Foxtrot (Jurmann - Rotter) Herbert Fröhlich and his orchestra. Refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer.

3085 (mx. C 513) I was looking for happiness in your eyes. Waltz ad sound film "Die Jugendgeliebte" (Schmidt-Gentner - Reisfeld) / (mx. C 504.1) Micky Mouse. Foxtrot ad sound film of the same name (Carlton - Reisfeld) Herbert Fröhlich and his orchestra. Refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer.

3086 (mx. C 517.1) What your look promises. Foxtrot ad sound film “The Great Gabbo” (Titsworth / Rillo, Robinson) / (mx. C 511.1) Ha, ha, ha! Then I laugh. Foxtrot ad sound film “The Great Gabbo” (Zany, Namee / Gilbert, Robinson) Herbert Fröhlich and his orchestra. Refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer.

3088 (mx. C 514) You only love once. Tango (Dostal - Rillo) / (mx. C 515) What your mouth promises me. Tango (Ailbout - Springefeld) Bernard Etté and his orchestra. Refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer.

3089 (mx. C 516.1) A little longing, tango (music and text: Fr. Holländer) Bernhard Etté and his orchestra, refrain: Wolfgang Zilzer.

literature

  • “Künstler am Rundfunk”, a pocket album from the magazine “Der deutsche Rundfunk”, dedicated to our readers. Verlag Rothgießer & Diesing, Berlin 1932, DNB 574815759 .
  • Wolfgang Schneidereit: Discography of the vocal interpreters of the light muse from 1925 to 1945 in German-speaking countries: A discography with biographical information in 3 volumes. Volume 3: Ethel Reschke to Slobodan Zivojnovic. Verlag BoD - Books on Demand, 2019, ISBN 978-3-7528-2843-6 , pp. 1638-1640.
  • Lothar Schwab: Wolfgang Zilzer (Paul Andor). (= Exile. Six actors from Germany. 6). Contributions by Gero Gandert , Ulrich Kurowski, Wolfgang Jacobsen . Deutsche Kinemathek Foundation, Berlin 1983, OCLC 917557972 .
  • 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 , pp. 554 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Deutsche Crystalate GmbH, Berlin (subsidiary of the English Crystalate ) registered the CRYSTAL brand on February 9, 1929, and KRISTALL on April 26, 1929. On December 9, 1933, the name was changed to Kristall-Schallplatten GmbH. ”, Cf. grammophon-platten.de (Grammophonteam, Sun Jan 29 2012, 7:37 pm)
  2. ↑ K 1615 (a) "Märchen vom Rhein" (Will Rollins [di Walter Bransen ] - Karl Wilczynski ) and (b) "Bummellied" ( Siegwart Ehrlich - Karl Wilczynski), cf. Tailoring p. 1640
  3. ↑ cf. Album “Künstler am Rundfunk” (1932), p. 240: “Gerhard Hoffmann was born in 1898 and is the director of the Hoffmann band. The desire to make music is in his blood; as a 14 year old he appeared in public. But he is also given the joy of nature. He loves to escape the noise of the big city in the car or on the motorcycle. ”At radiomusaeum.org
  4. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Wolfgang Zilzer
  5. ↑ to be heard on u-tube
  6. ↑ to be heard on u-tube
  7. ↑ to be heard on u-tube , Sound file done by Rainer E. Lotz .
  8. ↑ to be heard on u-tube
personal data
SURNAME Zilzer, Wolfgang
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andor, Paul; Voight, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio , USA
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1991
Place of death Berlin