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One hopeful student...who stumbles into acting...eventually stars in the first-ever horror movie. A German, married to a Jewish woman - just as the Nazi regime takes over...forced to flee their country... No, this isn’t the summary of a TV mini-series. This, folks, is Conrad Veidt.
1893 – 1943
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt was born in Berlin, Germany. His only sibling (an older brother) sadly passed away from scarlet fever, so Conrad was raised as an only child for most of his life. Not long after his brother’s passing, Conrad’s father suffered from heart problems and required an operation. The doctor knew that the family could not afford much, so he kindly allowed them to pay what they were able to. Don’t you wish this was a common practice today! This generosity touched Conrad’s heart, and he vowed that he would someday become a surgeon.
Young Conrad
Unfortunately, when Conrad graduated without a diploma, ranking 13th in his class (out of 13 students), he became discouraged at the amount of studying that would be necessary for medical school, and gave up on that idea. A year before graduation, Conrad was asked to deliver the prologue before the curtain rose on the school Christmas play. Being a school play, the quality certainly wasn’t Broadway! As the audience left, someone muttered, “Too bad the others didn’t do as well as Veidt!” Everyone’s a critic... In any event, Conrad decided that he’d like to become an actor – which went swimmingly with his strict, very conservative father (who referred to actors as “gypsies” and “outcasts”).
Conrad began attending plays as often as he could, studying the actors and their technique. Eventually, he met a theater porter who arranged to have him meet actor Albert Blumenreich, who became Conrad’s first acting coach. After 10 lessons, Conrad auditioned for producer Max Reinhardt. During the audition, Max looked out the window the entire time! But despite his manners, Max offered Conrad a contract....as an extra. But a job is a job, and Conrad took it.
As luck would have it, just as Conrad’s contract was renewed for a second season at the theater, World War 1 broke out and he enlisted in the army. In 1915, Conrad was sent to the Eastern Front and participated in the Battle of Warsaw. He contracted pneumonia and jaundice, and was sent to a hospital on the Baltic Sea. After recuperating, the military allowed him to join a local theatre group that entertained the troops, as his condition had not improved enough to resume combat. The following year, he was deemed unfit for service and given a full discharge, returning to his home in Berlin (and his “home” theater). He soon played the small part of a priest, and received a rave review in which the writer said, “God save him from the cinema!” If they only knew...!
Conrad, in a role that he would long be remembered for - Cesare the sleepwalking murderer ("The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari")
Not long after his triumph in stage acting, Conrad did indeed enter “the cinema”. Apparently, God wasn’t too keen on “saving” him from it... From the very start, Conrad established himself as a very versatile actor, playing a variety of characters (much like our friend Lon Chaney). To this day, one of his most notable silent films is 1920's “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, which we covered quite some time ago! In total, Conrad appeared in over 100 films from 1917 to his death in 1943. That’s some resume!
In the late 1920s, Conrad moved to Hollywood, but it was a short-lived venture. The advent of sound spelled disaster for his novice English-speaking, so he eventually returned to Europe. In 1933, he married his third wife, a Jewish woman named Lily Prager – just as the Nazi regime was setting in and the German film industry was being purged of Jews and Jewish sympathizers.
Conrad, steadfastly in support of the Jewish people (although not Jewish himself), knew his time in Germany was limited. Before any action could be taken against them, Conrad and his wife quickly immigrated to Britain. The British film industry was happy to have him, and he continued his acting career. He made enormous charitable contributions to those affected by the war, as well as the British war effort.
Conrad with his daughter Viola (circa 1930)
Well, the British government needed assistance in making American films that would persuade the then-neutral United States to enter World War 2. They sent the Veidts to – where else – Hollywood! By then, Conrad’s English had improved a great deal, and he was emphatic in his studio contract that if he had to play the part of a Nazi (which is all he seemed to get), it must always be a villain. Well, in 1942, as the renowned “Casablanca” was in production, the U.S. entered the war. Conrad’s role of a Nazi major in “Casablanca” would be well-received, which later prompted him to comment on the irony “for portraying the kind of character who had forced him to leave his homeland.”
In 1943, after years of chain smoking that worsened an inherited heart condition, Conrad suffered a heart attack while playing golf (with his doctor) and passed away at the age of 50. He was survived by his wife Lily and his daughter Viola. His ashes were interred at the Golders Green Crematorium in London.
Conrad seems to have had an excellent reputation with those who knew him, and his insight on some subjects still holds true today! I leave you with this excerpt from an interview he gave in 1941:
“...And among females today there are some very fine actresses, very fine; fine doctors, lawyers, even scientists and industrialists. I see no fault in any female when she wears slacks, smokes (unless it is on the street, one thing, the only thing, which I don't like), when she drives a car ... when men say things like "I bet it is a woman driving" if something is wrong with the car ahead – no, no. These are old, worn out prejudices, they do not belong in today.”
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