Walter Slezak

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Walter Slezak, photograph (around 1928) by Alexander Binder
Walter Slezak, photograph (around 1928) by Alexander Binder
Walter Slezak, photograph (1934) by Carl van Vechten

Walter Slezak (born May 3, 1902 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † April 21, 1983 in Flower Hill , New York , United States ) was an Austrian-American film and theater actor .

Life

Walter Slezak was the son of the opera tenor Leo Slezak and the actress Elsa Wertheim . The singer Margarete Slezak (1909-1953) was his sister, the actress Erika Slezak (born August 5, 1946 in Hollywood , California ) is his daughter.

Slezak initially studied medicine, but then opted for the secure job of a bank clerk. His friend Michael Curtiz persuaded him in 1922 to take on a role in his film Sodom and Gomorrah . Slezak gave up his banking career and from then on concentrated entirely on the young medium of film. Still a slender youth in those days, he played the romantic lover in a number of German silent films .

In 1930 Slezak tried his hand at Broadway and made his debut in the production Meet My Sister . He found taste and remained loyal to the stage for twelve years. He had since moved to the United States and was granted American citizenship in 1936. Weight problems forced him to switch to the character subject . In 1942, in his first film in his new home, Once Upon A Honeymoon , Slezak acted as Ginger Rogers' husband . In 1943, two years before the end of the Second World War , he had one of his most famous appearances in Hitchcock's Das Rettungsboot (Lifeboat) . In his nuanced portrayal as the competent and devious Nazi captain Willy, after the sinking of an American passenger ship and forced by the sinking of his own submarine , he was forced to board the American lifeboat, on which he finally took command.

He combined his ability to play both villainous and comic roles in films such as The Princess and the Pirate (1944) and The Inspector General (1949). By the early 1970s, film followed film, increasingly in comic roles with prominent partners and with steadily growing popularity. In between Slezak made frequent trips to the stage and his role as Cesar in the musical Fanny earned him the Tony Award in 1955 . From 1965 to 1966, he also had his own revue show My dear swan on German television . He last stood in front of the camera in 1980 for two episodes of the television series Love Boat , after which he had to retire for health reasons.

Discouraged by the many diseases, Walter Slezak committed suicide shortly before his 81st birthday suicide . His grave is in the Rottach-Egern cemetery .

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Walter Slezak: What time's the next swan? Doubleday, Garden City NY 1962.
  • Walter Slezak: When is the next swan going? Piper, Munich 1964.
    • Paperback edition: (= dtv 670). German paperback publishing house, Munich 1970.
  • When is the next swan going. Excerpts from the book of the same name by and with Walter Slezak. Ariola, Gütersloh 1966 [LP].
  • Leo Slezak: My dear boy. Letters from a concerned father. Edited by Walter Slezak. Piper, Munich 1966.
  • Walter Slezak: My stomach is strange. A story book with cooking recipes. Piper, Munich et al. 1977, ISBN 3-492-02301-0 .
    • Paperback edition: (= dtv 1572). Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-423-01572-1 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Walter Slezak  - Quotes
Commons : Walter Slezak  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Permalink The Library of Congress .
personal data
SURNAME Slezak, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American film and stage actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1983
Place of death Flower Hill , New York , United States