Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (/faɪt/; 22 January 1893 â€" 3 April 1943)
was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as
Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920),
and The Man who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German
silent films, where he was one of the best-paid stars of UFA, he and
his new Jewish wife Ilona Prager were forced to leave Germany in 1933
after the Nazis came to power. The couple settled in Britain, where he
took British citizenship in 1939. He appeared in many British films,
including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United
States around 1941, which led to him being cast as Major Strasser in
Casablanca (1942).Veidt was born in a bourgeois district of Berlin, in
what was then the German Empire, to Amalie Marie (née Gohtz) and
Phillip Heinrich Veidt. (Some biographies wrongly state that he was
born in Potsdam, probably on the basis of an early claim on his part.)
His family was Lutheran.In 1914, Veidt met actress Lucie Mannheim,
with whom he began a relationship. Later in the year Veidt was
conscripted into the German Army during World War I. In 1915, he was
sent to the Eastern Front as a non-commissioned officer and took part
in the Battle of Warsaw. He contracted jaundice and pneumonia, and had
to be evacuated to a hospital on the Baltic Sea. While recuperating,
he received a letter from Mannheim telling him that she had found work
at a theatre in Libau. Intrigued, Veidt applied for the theatre as
well. As his condition had not improved, the army allowed him to join
the theatre so that he could entertain the troops. While performing at
the theatre, he ended his relationship with Mannheim. In late 1916, he
was re-examined by the Army and deemed unfit for service; he was given
a full discharge in January 1917. Veidt returned to Berlin to pursue
his acting career.
was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as
Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920),
and The Man who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German
silent films, where he was one of the best-paid stars of UFA, he and
his new Jewish wife Ilona Prager were forced to leave Germany in 1933
after the Nazis came to power. The couple settled in Britain, where he
took British citizenship in 1939. He appeared in many British films,
including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United
States around 1941, which led to him being cast as Major Strasser in
Casablanca (1942).Veidt was born in a bourgeois district of Berlin, in
what was then the German Empire, to Amalie Marie (née Gohtz) and
Phillip Heinrich Veidt. (Some biographies wrongly state that he was
born in Potsdam, probably on the basis of an early claim on his part.)
His family was Lutheran.In 1914, Veidt met actress Lucie Mannheim,
with whom he began a relationship. Later in the year Veidt was
conscripted into the German Army during World War I. In 1915, he was
sent to the Eastern Front as a non-commissioned officer and took part
in the Battle of Warsaw. He contracted jaundice and pneumonia, and had
to be evacuated to a hospital on the Baltic Sea. While recuperating,
he received a letter from Mannheim telling him that she had found work
at a theatre in Libau. Intrigued, Veidt applied for the theatre as
well. As his condition had not improved, the army allowed him to join
the theatre so that he could entertain the troops. While performing at
the theatre, he ended his relationship with Mannheim. In late 1916, he
was re-examined by the Army and deemed unfit for service; he was given
a full discharge in January 1917. Veidt returned to Berlin to pursue
his acting career.
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