Conrad Veidt
Acting • Born 1893-01-22 – Died 1943-04-03
Biography
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 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 film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of Ufa, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the Nazis came to power. They settled in Britain, where he participated in a number of films, including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United States around 1941, which lead to him having a supporting role in Casablanca (1942). From 1916 until his death, Veidt appeared in more than 100 films. One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), a classic of German Expressionist cinema, with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover. His starring role in The Man Who Laughs (1928), as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin, provided the (visual) inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker, created in 1940 by Bill Finger. Veidt also starred in other silent horror films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924), another film directed by Robert Wiene, The Student of Prague (1926) and Waxworks (1924) where he played Ivan the Terrible. Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfeld's film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919), one of the first films to sympathetically portray homosexuality, although the characters in it do not end up happily. He had a leading role in Germany's first talking picture, Das Land ohne Frauen (Land Without Women, 1929). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and made a few films, but the advent of talking pictures and his difficulty with speaking English led him to return to Germany. During this period he lent his expertise to tutoring aspiring performers, one of whom was the later American character actress Lisa Golm.
Filmography
121 credits
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Movie • 1920
Cesare
Casablanca
Movie • 1943
Major Heinrich Strasser
The Head of Janus
Movie • 1920
Dr. Warren
Wenn Tote sprechen
Movie • 1917
Richard von Worth
The Hands of Orlac
Movie • 1924
Paul Orlac
Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
Movie • 1921
Ivan
The Thief of Bagdad
Movie • 1940
Jaffar
Above Suspicion
Movie • 1943
Hassert Seidel
The Man Who Laughs
Movie • 1928
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
Wahnsinn
Movie • 1919
Bankier Lorenzen
The Student of Prague
Movie • 1926
Balduin, Student
Waxworks
Movie • 1924
Ivan the Terrible
A Woman's Face
Movie • 1941
Torsten Barring
Eerie Tales
Movie • 1919
Der Tod / Various Other Roles
All Through the Night
Movie • 1942
Franz Ebbing
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Movie • 1974
Self (archive footage)
Nazi Agent
Movie • 1942
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Schicksal
Movie • 1925
Whistling in the Dark
Movie • 1941
Joseph Jones
Dark Journey
Movie • 1937
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
The Spy in Black
Movie • 1939
Captain Ernst Hardt
Liebe macht blind
Movie • 1926
The Last Performance
Movie • 1929
Erik the Great
The Night of the Decision
Movie • 1931
General Gregori Platoff
Contraband
Movie • 1940
Capt. Andersen
The Beloved Rogue
Movie • 1927
King Louis XI
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Movie • 1935
The Stranger
Escape
Movie • 1940
General Kurt von Kolb
The Many Faces of Dracula
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
Under the Red Robe
Movie • 1937
Gil de Berault
Rome Express
Movie • 1932
Zurta
The Wandering Jew
Movie • 1933
Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
Jew Süss
Movie • 1934
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
The Ingmar Inheritance
Movie • 1925
Hellgum
Husbands or Lovers
Movie • 1924
Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Fear
Movie • 1917
Indian Priest
The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
Movie • 1921
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Movie • 1921
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Journey into the Night
Movie • 1921
Der Maler
Wilhelm Tell
Movie • 1923
Hermann Gessler
I Was a Spy
Movie • 1933
Commandant Oberaertz
The Flight in the Night
Movie • 1926
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
The Only Girl
Movie • 1933
Marquis de Pontignac
The Chess Player
Movie • 1938
Le baron de Kempelen
Different from the Others
Movie • 1919
Paul Körner
The Congress Dances
Movie • 1931
Fürst Metternich
The Black Hussar
Movie • 1932
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
Lucrezia Borgia
Movie • 1922
Cesare Borgia
Should We Be Silent?
Movie • 1926
Paul Hartwig, Maler
The Wife's Crusade
Movie • 1926
Der Staatsanwalt
Wilhelm Tell
Movie • 1934
Gessler
People in Ecstasy
Movie • 1921
Professor Munk
The Love Storm
Movie • 1930
Kingsley
Patience
Movie • 1920
Sir Percy Parker
F.P.1
Movie • 1933
Maj. Ellissen
The Merry-Go-Round
Movie • 1920
Petre Karvan
King of the Damned
Movie • 1935
Convict 83
Not of the Woman Born
Movie • 1918
Satan
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Movie • 2008
Jaffar (archival footage)
Congress Dances
Movie • 1931
Prince Metternich
Prostitution
Movie • 1919
Alfred Werner
The Great Passion
Movie • 1930
Himself
Two Brothers
Movie • 1926
Wenzel Schellenberg / Michael Schellenberg
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
Movie • 1932
Grigori Rasputin
Landstraße und Großstadt
Movie • 1921
Raphael, der Geiger
The Last Company
Movie • 1930
Hauptmann Burk
The Man Who Committed the Murder
Movie • 1931
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
Peer Gynt - 2. Teil: Peer Gynts Wanderjahre und Tod
Movie • 1919
Nocturno der Liebe
Movie • 1919
Frederic Chopin
The Japanese Woman
Movie • 1919
The Mexican
Movie • 1919
Dr. von Dossen
Opfer der Gesellschaft
Movie • 1919
Tempête sur l'Asie
Movie • 1938
Erich Keith
The Men in Her Life
Movie • 1941
Stanislas Rosing
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Movie • 1940
Self
The Other Side
Movie • 1931
Hauptmann Stanhope
Napoleon
Movie • 1927
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
Lady Hamilton
Movie • 1921
Lord Nelson
Figures of the Night
Movie • 1920
The clown
Der Spion
Movie • 1917
Steinau
Kurfürstendamm
Movie • 1920
The devil
Impetuous Youth
Movie • 1926
Renées Vater
Prostitution II
Movie • 1919
Alfred Werner
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie • 1919
Phineas Fogg
Bella Donna
Movie • 1934
Mahmoud Baroudi
Manolescu's Memoirs
Movie • 1920
Manolescu
Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
Movie • 1920
Christian Wahnschaffe
Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
Movie • 1921
Christian Wahnschaffe
Opium
Movie • 1919
Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Movie • 1924
Don Carlos
Paganini
Movie • 1923
Niccolo Paganini
A Man's Past
Movie • 1927
Paul La Roche
The Film in the Film
Movie • 1924
Self
Diary of a Lost Woman
Movie • 1918
Dr. Julius
The Story of Dida Ibsen
Movie • 1918
Erik Norrensen
Der Leidensweg der Inge Krafft
Movie • 1921
Colomba
Movie • 1918
Henryk von Rhyn
Liebestaumel
Movie • 1921
Jalenko
The Count of Cagliostro
Movie • 1920
Minister
Prinz Kuckuck
Movie • 1919
Carl Kraker
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Movie • 1921
Tossi
Moriturus
Movie • 1920
Wilmos, sanatorium director
Das Land ohne Frauen
Movie • 1929
Dick Ashton
Le Comte Kostia
Movie • 1925
Comte Kostia
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
Movie • 1927
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
Movie • 1921
Hektor Dalmore
Der Weg des Todes
Movie • 1917
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
Movie • 1918
Doktor Köstling
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 2. Henriette Jacoby
Movie • 1918
Doktor Köstling
Evening – Night – Morning
Movie • 1920
Brilburn - Maud's brother
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Movie • 1918
Schober
Es werde Licht! 4. Teil: Sündige Mütter
Movie • 1918
Kramer
The Mystery of Bangalore
Movie • 1918
Dinja
The Movie City of Hollywood
Movie • 1928
Self
Universal Horror
Movie • 1998
(archive footage)
Die Okarina
Movie • 1919
Glanz gegen Glück
Movie • 1923
Künstlerlaunen
Movie • 1920
Die Augen der Welt
Movie • 1920
Johannes Kay
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall
Movie • 1920
Danton
Movie • 1921
Minor Role (rumored)