Wilhelm Thiele

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Wilhelm Thiele (born May 10, 1890 in Vienna , † September 7, 1975 in Woodland Hills ; actually Wilhelm Isersohn ) was an Austrian - American film director and screenwriter .

life and career

Thiele attended the conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna and received a scholarship from the Burgtheater to train as an actor. He first appeared on stage in Karlsbad in 1909, and later appeared in Stuttgart. From 1914 he was in military service with the German Masters in Vienna and performed revues for the troops. After the war he worked as a theater director at the Volkstheater in Munich .

In 1923 Thiele began his career as a director with Das Totenmahl auf Schloß Begalitza . His films were mostly light comedies. With the advent of talkies, Thiele was the first German-speaking director to use music for his work and shot Die Drei von der Gasstelle (1930), both the first German music film and his most successful film. In addition to the German version, he also shot a French version, followed by other French-language films.

After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Thiele went abroad in 1933 because of his Jewish origins. He came to America via England and Austria. From 1936 he directed in Hollywood . The first film was The Jungle Princess with Dorothy Lamour , Ray Milland and Akim Tamiroff in the leading roles. But he could no longer build on his successes in Europe in the USA. He twice directed Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmuller , one of which was a propaganda film against the Third Reich.

In 1949 he was one of the first directors to switch to the new medium, television. At the end of the 1950s, Thiele went back to Germany for a short time and made two more films here in 1960: The Last Pedestrian with Heinz Erhardt and the last work Sabine and the 100 Men , including Yehudi Menuhin and the Berliner Philharmoniker under Ferenc Fricsay . This film is considered a contemporary document of the West German post-war period. In 1974 Thiele received the gold film tape for many years of outstanding work in German film.

Filmography

literature

  • 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. P. 503 ff., ACABUS-Verlag, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86282-049-8

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thiele, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Isersohn, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 7th September 1975
Place of death Woodland Hills