Conrad Veidt
Birthday: 1893-01-22
Place of Birth: Berlin, Germany
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.
Movies
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recentl...
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Casablanca
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with un...
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The Head of Janus
Two opposing characters are hidden in the person of the inconspicuous London gentleman Dr. Warren an...
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Wenn Tote sprechen
After finding her sister dead, Maria tries to find out who or what is to blame....
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The Hands of Orlac
A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he is horrifi...
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Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
A young Russian dancer in Geneva returns to Russia, where he falls in love with a grand duchess. He ...
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The Thief of Bagdad
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with th...
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Above Suspicion
Two newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe....
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The Man Who Laughs
When a proud noble refuses to kiss the hand of the despotic King James in 1690, he is cruelly execut...
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The Student of Prague
For Balduin, going out to beer parties with his fellow students and fighting out disputes at the tip...
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Wahnsinn
A banker, after a prophetic meeting with a Gypsy fortune teller, becomes delusional as he searches f...
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Waxworks
A poet is hired by the owner of a wax museum in a circus to write tales about Harun al Raschid, Ivan...
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A Woman's Face
A female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the possi...
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Eerie Tales
A demon, a reaper, and the ghost of a prostitute read gothic short stories and act them out....
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All Through the Night
Broadway gamblers stumble across a plan by Nazi saboteurs to blow up an American battleship....
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The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
In this made-for-TV production, Vincent Price and his hunchback sidekick (Billy Van) host a pun-fill...
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Nazi Agent
Humble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he receives a ...
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Whistling in the Dark
Radio crime show host 'The Fox' along with his fiancée and ex-girlfriend are kidnapped by a larcenou...
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Dark Journey
Madeline Goddard, is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron Karl...
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The Spy in Black
A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet....
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The Last Performance
A middle-aged magician is in love with his beautiful young assistant. She, on the other hand, is in ...
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Contraband
During early World War II, a Danish sea captain, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spie...
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The Beloved Rogue
François Villon, in his lifetime the most renowned poet in France, is also a prankster, an occasiona...
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The Passing of the Third Floor Back
The tenants of an old London boarding house spend their time in petty bickering and sniping until a ...
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Escape
An American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration camp. Wi...
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The Many Faces of Dracula
Hosted by Christopher Lee, this documentary examines the different actors who have portrayed Dracula...
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Under the Red Robe
In 1620s France, dreaded swordsman Gil de Berault returns from carrying out a mission for Cardinal R...
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Rome Express
The theft of a famous painting leads to murder and many suspects on a plush train speeding from Pari...
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The Wandering Jew
Old Jerusalem: Matathias, spiteful over his lover's illness, spits on Jesus along the road to Calvar...
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Jew Süss
A historical satire critical of the rising tide of Anti-Semitism in Germany. Based on the novel by L...
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The Ingmar Inheritance
When his ancestors seem to appear in the clouds during a storm of biblical proportions, young Ingmar...
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Husbands or Lovers
A wife, bored by her overweight slob of a husband, gives in to the temptation of a slickly seductive...
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Fear
A millionaire steals an ancient idol causing some natives call upon him a terrible curse....
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Journey into the Night
Dr. Egil Börne, an eminent physician, comes under the spell of an unscrupulous cabaret dancer and de...
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The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
Ayan, Maharajah of Eschnapur, believes that his wife, Princess Savitri, has been unfaithful to him w...
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The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Rowland falls sick with leprosy while Mac Allan is captured by the Maharajah, who offers Irene a dea...
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Wilhelm Tell
William Tell (German: Wilhelm Tell) is a 1923 German silent adventure film directed by Rudolf Dworsk...
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I Was a Spy
During World War I, a young nurse in a hospital in German-occupied Belgium is secretly feeding milit...
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The Flight in the Night
Based on the play Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello. Conrad Veidt plays Count di Nolli, a nobleman who, a...
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The Only Girl
A dashing marquis bends from his horse when he discovers a lost garter in the woods and falls. Durin...
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The Chess Player
A toymaker in Poland specializes in building lifesize mechanical men. He builds a chess-playing "aut...
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Different from the Others
Conrad Veidt plays a famous musician who is blackmailed for being gay. Eventually he stands trial an...
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The Congress Dances
Vienna glove-sales-lady Christel falls in love with Russian Czar Alexander. Austrian Prince Mettern...
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The Black Hussar
In 1812, during the French period, large parts of Germany are occupied by the troops of Napoleon. Se...
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Lucrezia Borgia
Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweethe...
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Should We Be Silent?
A melodrama about a painter who is infected with syphilis, refuses treatment, turns to the use inste...
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The Wife's Crusade
A working-class couple with four children live in extreme poverty in a rear building. When the woman...
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The Love Storm
This is the German-language version of the British film The Love Storm (1931)....
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F.P.1
Urged by famous airman Ellissen the Lennartz Company puts into reality the project proposed by his f...
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The Merry-Go-Round
Drama about street walker Elena who marries shop keeper Albert. When her former pimp Peter shows up,...
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King of the Damned
Revolt on a prison island is a parable of workers revolution. A cruel and repressive penal colony is...
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Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Documentary about the technical achievements of the 1940 film classic The Thief of Bagdad....
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Congress Dances
In 1815, Tsar Alexander I romances a working-class glove seller, while his double takes his place at...
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Prostitution
Hedwig and Lola, two sisters of opposite temperaments, have their lives upended in when Lola decides...
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The Great Passion
This is a real curiosity; at best a reasonable film, but also a charming little gem. There is a stor...
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Two Brothers
Two brothers follow very different paths after an accident at the factory where they both work....
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Rasputin, Demon of the Women
The demonic Rasputin is poisoned but survives to continue seducing in evil ways, in this historical ...
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Landstraße und Großstadt
Two poor musicians rise from rags to riches. Money, fame and their love for the same woman begin to ...
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The Last Company
Following the Battle of Jena in 1806 as the French armies commanded by Napoleon overrun Prussia, a s...
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The Man Who Committed the Murder
The story is about Conrad Veidt as military attache in Turkey where he learns to know an English con...
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The Japanese Woman
A detective falls for a Japanese girl living with her uncle and cousin. When the girl's uncle is mur...
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Opfer der Gesellschaft
A prosecutor, keen on punishing those he deems undesirable, convicts a woman of murder. It is only a...
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The Men in Her Life
A circus performer becomes a ballerina and then begins her life of a career versus marriage and a ho...
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A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind th...
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The Other Side
The First World War. The young, English Lieutenant Raleigh is sent to the company of a disillusioned...
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Napoleon
A biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte, tracing the Corsican's career from his schooldays (where a snowball ...
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Lady Hamilton
The married Lady Emma Hamilton has an ill fated romance with Admiral Horatio Nelson....
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Figures of the Night
"Night people". Thomas Bezug, the richest man in the world, is a solitary, domineering and cruel cri...
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Kurfürstendamm
The Devil decides to go and visit Kurfürstendamm, where all his clients seem to come from. He settle...
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Prostitution II
About a deceptive bourgeois couple that blends their acquaintances into their dubious business....
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Around the World in 80 Days
Wealthy Englishman Phileas Fogg bets his friends that he can travel around the world in 80 days....
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Bella Donna
That old theatrical war-horse Bella Donna (previously filmed in America by Alla Nazimova) was resurr...
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Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
Weltbrand is the first part of the two-part silent movie Christian Wahnschaffe....
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Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
Escape from the Golden Dungeon is the second part of the two-part silent movie Christian Wahnschaffe...
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Opium
In China, Professor Gesellius has completed his long research on the many uses of opium. When he is ...
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Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, and Princess Elisabeth of Valois are deeply in love but King...
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A Man's Past
Imprisoned at the French garrison on the Isle of St. Noir for putting to death a patient suffering f...
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The Film in the Film
The only surviving excerpt of a documentary on film production in Weimar Germany, featuring the diff...
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The Story of Dida Ibsen
Dida Ibsen, daughter of impoverished farmers, has, according to her father's will, to marry the main...
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The Count of Cagliostro
About a lurid tale of magic and secret societies during the reign of Luis XVI, focused on the figure...
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Prinz Kuckuck
The niece and nephew of an eccentric millionaire try to get a share of the now deceased millionaire'...
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Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Gabriela Farnese, a famous singer, visits Bombay to find her mysterious doppelganger, the dancer Con...
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Moriturus
A doctor who cannot figure out what is wrong with his patient refers him to a detective, whom he hop...
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Das Land ohne Frauen
A group of 413 women answer an ad looking for British women to sail to and marry miners in Australia...
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Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
A documentary by Magnus Hirschfeld, which contains a shortened version of Different From the Others ...
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Der Weg des Todes
A countess decides to get rid of a nosy stranger by luring him into a castle dungeon....
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Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
A young Jewish woman is pressured to marry a wealthy man even though she is in love with someone els...
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Evening – Night – Morning
Cheston, a millionaire, is looking after Maud, a beautiful woman from the 'demimonde'. Her brother, ...
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Universal Horror
A documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the...
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Danton
At the height of Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre orchestrates the trial and execution of seve...
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