Rudolf Klein-Rogge

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Rudolf Klein-Rogge (born November 24, 1885 in Cologne , † May 29, 1955 in Wetzelsdorf near Jagerberg , Austria ) was a German actor of the 1920s and 1930s.

Life

Rudolf Klein-Rogge was born the son of a judge-martial and, in addition to studying art history, attended Hans Siebert's drama school . After appearances in Halberstadt , Aachen , Kiel , Düsseldorf and a longer engagement at the Stadttheater in Nuremberg , he and his then wife Thea von Harbou moved to Berlin because they believed they could only advance their careers there. At first he worked at the Lessing Theater and also staged his own plays.

After the relationship broke up, Thea von Harbou entered into a new relationship with Fritz Lang . She introduced the two of them and ensured that Klein-Rogge received various roles in Lang's works. Under Lang's direction, he played some of his best-known roles, where he was often cast in villain roles: in Lang's two Dr. Mabuse films, he played the eponymous super criminal, in The Nibelungen he was seen as the Hun King Etzel , and in Metropolis he played the mad scientist Rotwang. After the war, Klein-Rogge tried to get involved in film roles again through contact with Fritz Lang. However, Lang did not find a suitable role for him. So he tried his hand at being a theater director in Graz . He directed several plays until the early 1950s.

He did not recover from a stroke he suffered one night. He died on May 29, 1955 in Wetzelsdorf near Jagerberg on his estate, which he had been given over by his brother in 1943 and which was torn down in the 1980s. Klein-Rogge was married four times: with Gerda Melchior , Margarete Neff , Thea von Harbou and Mary Johnson . Hilde Finkelnburg was a stepdaughter from her first marriage . As a " half-Jewish " endangered under National Socialism, Klein-Rogge and Thea von Harbou gave her the code name Ela Elborg and a forged Aryan certificate. The marriage to Mary Johnson had a daughter, Karin (* 1933), and a son, Egil Hartmut († 1943).

Klein-Rogge was buried at Steinfeldfriedhof in Graz, Friedhofgasse 33, the grave was abandoned in 1990.

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. S. Weltmann: Wetzelsdorf near Jagerberg Anno 2000 . “Rudolf Klein-Rogge - Nachlass” on Google Sites, accessed January 10, 2017.
  2. ^ Hanns-Georg Rodek : Ela fell in love . Report, in: Die Welt , November 16, 2011.
  3. ^ Stephanie D'heil: Rudolf Klein-Rogge . www.steffi-line.de, public favorites, accessed on December 13, 2016.
  4. Graz knerger.de, accessed May 1, 2019 - "C1-131 (grave site closed in 1990)"