Rudolf Christians (actor)

Rudolf Christians in 1895

Rudolf Christians , also Rudolph Christians , ( January 15, 1869 in Middoge , Jeverland - February 7, 1921 in Pasadena , California , USA ) was a German actor and theater director .

Life

Christians came from a Jeverland family. After finishing high school , he actually wanted to become an actor immediately, but since his guardian was against it, he was forced to study with a merchant in Oldenburg.

Through frequent visits to the theater, he got to know the then director Otto Devrient , who, after a test talk, attested to declamatory and acting talent. That was reason enough for him to join an acting company in 1887 under a strange name and without means.

For them he played in the operetta, in the farce, as a lover, comedian in large, small and silent roles. In doing so, he learned about the misery of traveling comedians.

In 1891 Christians got a permanent engagement in Krefeld. When he had to step in at short notice as “ Melchthal ” during a guest performance by a well-known artist and was pleased, he received an offer from the Stadttheater Basel. He worked there for two years and then went to Düsseldorf until 1895.

Next, Rudolf Christians was hired at the German Volkstheater in Vienna. He debuted on September 5, 1895 as "King Astulf" in Talisman . In 1898 he went to Berlin to the Royal Theater (inaugural role: "Hamlet")

Also in 1898 he appeared with Agnes Sorma in the "King's Children" in the USA. From 1898 to 1901 he also made guest appearances in St. Petersburg. In New York he was the director of the German-speaking Irving Place Theater . When the USA entered the war in 1917, the Christians family had to flee the country and then returned to Germany.

Christians went back to the USA in 1920 at the latest to make films. There he died in 1921 towards the end of the shooting of the film Foolish Women , so that the director Erich von Stroheim was forced to shoot some scenes with the Christian-like actor Robert Edeson .

His wife was the opera singer Bertha Klein , their daughter Mady Christians also became an actress.

Honors

Grand Ducal Oldenburg gold medal for art and science
Grand Ducal Mecklenburg-Schwer. gold. Med to wear "for merit" around the neck.

Filmography

1913: dissonances of life
1913: His maid
1915: The old song
1915: Lotte's guardian
1920: Deep Waters
1920: The Secret Gift
1920: Human Stuff
1920: Her Five-Foot Highness
1920: Burnt Wings
1921: Foolish women

literature

Ludwig Eisenberg : Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century . Verlag von Paul List , Leipzig 1903, p. 155 f., ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Herrmann AL Degener : Who is it? ´, published by HA Ludwig Degener, Leipzig, 1909, p. 223

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ 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. 124.
↑ Stefan Lorant: We from the film. The life, love and suffering of the movie stars. P. 18, Berlin 1928
↑ Arthur Lennig: Stroheim , University Press of Kentucky, 2000, p. 135 , ISBN 0-8131-2138-8 (English)

personal data
SURNAME	Christians, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Christians, Rudolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH	January 15, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH	Middoge , County of Oldenburg
DATE OF DEATH	February 7, 1921
Place of death	Pasadena , California , USA

[1] 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. 124.

[2] Stefan Lorant: We from the film. The life, love and suffering of the movie stars. P. 18, Berlin 1928

[3] Arthur Lennig: Stroheim , University Press of Kentucky, 2000, p. 135 , ISBN 0-8131-2138-8 (English)