Silent Superstars: The Magnetic Conrad Veidt
Known to even casual fans of classic cinema for his striking portrayal of the sleepwalking Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Conrad Veidt was one of the great artistes of his generation. Gentlemanly, handsome, and madly in love with dramatic acting, he gave even the smallest roles his all. And behind the scenes, his passionate ideals would be borne out in his private life as well.
Born January 22, 1893 to a middle class family in Berlin, Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (nicknamed “Connie”) came from a quiet Lutheran background. Convinced from a young age that he was destined for the stage, he eventually dropped out of high school to study acting–to his mother’s delight and his father’s chagrin. Never one to shy away from showing his enthusiasm, Veidt spent every second of his free time at the local theaters and dressed in flamboyant capes and monocles, hoping to be accepted by the artsy side of Berlin.
Fortunately for Veidt, 1910s Berlin was one of the centers of the entertainment world. Theater giant Max Reinhardt had been a revolutionary force, encouraging new, experimental art forms like Expressionism and providing a training ground for countless talented actors. After scoring free acting lessons, Veidt decided to take a chance and audition for Reinhardt himself. The gamble worked and he was hired as an extra for ten dollars a month. Veidt was so thrilled that he giddily spent his first paycheck entirely on gold-lettered business cards proclaiming, “Conrad Veidt, Member of the Deutsches Theater.”
Veidt would experience a number of significant events in the mid-1910s: his newfound career was interrupted by service in World War I, where he ended up battling pneumonia; in 1917 he was officially discharged and soon returned to Reinhardt’s theater, appearing in Expressionist productions; he then experienced the death of his father. In his later years, Veidt would often grieve that his father–skeptical as he had been about his son’s love of acting–didn’t live to see the success he would become.
Another significant event in 1917 was Veidt’s decision to start appearing in films. Standing at a lean 6’3”, with chiseled features and expressive eyes, he was sometimes given “exotic” roles such as the Indian priest in the horror film Fear (1917), or villain roles such as Satan in Not of a Woman Born (1918). He appeared in a number of early horror films, such as the lost Der Januskopf (1920), an early adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Other notable early roles were for a series of “enlightenment films,” tackling heavyweight subjects such as prostitution, STDs, and even homosexuality in Anders als die Andern (Different From the Others, 1919).
But the role that earned Veidt an eternal place in film history was the somnambulist Cesare in the wildly Expressionistic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). With his black, tight-fitting clothing and heavy makeup, Veidt’s gothic-looking Cesare has become one of the most iconic figures in the cinema. Despite a relatively sparse amount of screen time his mesmerizing performance left a huge impact.
The early 1920s presented more challenges. In 1922 Veidt’s first marriage to a cabaret performer named Gussy Hall came to an end, right around the time his beloved mother passed away. Perhaps he channeled these sorrows into his acting, for his reputation as an actor continued to grow with noteworthy performances in classics like The Hands of Orlac (1924) and Ivan the Terrible (1924). After marrying his second wife Felicitas, a happier union, Veidt was elated to welcome the birth of his only daughter Viola in 1925.
By this time Hollywood had come knocking, and Veidt agreed to appear in John Barrymore’s The Beloved Rogue (1927). Several more Hollywood films followed, including the classic period drama The Man Who Laughs (1928) starring Veidt as the disfigured sideshow performer Gwynplaine. His most unique and challenging performance, it required him to act mainly with his eyes, his mouth being frozen in a grotesque grin. Photos from this film apparently inspired the creation of the Joker in DC Comics. Veidt’s time in Hollywood was cut a bit short by the coming of sound, since he had a heavy accent. He decided to return to Germany despite plans to star him in Dracula (1931).
In 1932 he would divorce Felicitas (although he remained friendly with both ex-wives) and the following year wed Lily Prager, his final and longest lasting marriage. Around this time Nazism was rising in Germany, which Veidt strongly opposed, especially since Lily was Jewish. The couple would head to Britain where Veidt appeared in the pro-Jewish The Wandering Jew (1933) and Jew Süss (1934), earning the ire of the Gestapo. After being placed on house arrest for a time, Veidt decided he and Lily would leave Germany for good.
Back in Hollywood, Veidt continued to support the war effort, donating most of his life savings to the British government. By now appearing mainly in dramas and spy thrillers, he soon realized with some irony that he was starting to be typecast as a Nazi. He insisted that he only play Nazis as villains, as another unique way to support the war effort. His most famous role from this period was Major Heinrich Strasser in the seminal Casablanca (1942).
Veidt would only make one more film, Above Suspicion (1943) co-starring Joan Crawford. A few months after shooting wrapped, he was playing golf at the Riviera Country Club when he suffered a heart attack. He was pronounced dead on the scene, at only 50 years old. While he didn’t live to see the victorious end of World War II, he certainly left behind a proud legacy–not only of great performances captured on film forever, but of heroic and selfless actions to further a cause he passionately believed in.
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–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.
Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.
