Conrad Veidt
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.
Known for
Casablanca
Major Heinrich Strasser
Napoleon
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
Nazi Agent
Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
The Mexican
Dr. von Dossen
Künstlerlaunen
Escape
General Kurt von Kolb
Dark Journey
Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Contraband
Capt. Andersen
Rome Express
Zurta
Prinz Kuckuck
Carl Kraker
The Ingmar Inheritance
Hellgum
Lady Hamilton
Lord Nelson
Kurfürstendamm
The devil
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Cesare
Jew Süss
Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
Waxworks
Ivan the Terrible
Lucrezia Borgia
Cesare Borgia
Wilhelm Tell
Hermann Gessler
Eerie Tales
Der Tod / Various Other Roles
Wilhelm Tell
Gessler
Schicksal
The Story of Dida Ibsen
Erik Norrensen
The Last Company
Hauptmann Burk
The Hands of Orlac
Paul Orlac
The Japanese Woman
Husbands or Lovers
Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Colomba
Henryk von Rhyn
King of the Damned
Convict 83
The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar
Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand
Christian Wahnschaffe
I Was a Spy
Commandant Oberaertz
Paganini
Niccolo Paganini
Manolescu's Memoirs
Manolescu
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 2. Henriette Jacoby
Doktor Köstling
Figures of the Night
The clown
The Man Who Laughs
Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
The Chess Player
Le baron de Kempelen
The Mystery of Bangalore
Dinja
Danton
Minor Role (rumored)
Nocturno der Liebe
Frederic Chopin
Bella Donna
Mahmoud Baroudi
A Woman's Face
Torsten Barring
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Schober
All Through the Night
Franz Ebbing
Opium
Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
The Spy in Black
Captain Ernst Hardt
Wahnsinn
Bankier Lorenzen
Glanz gegen Glück
Above Suspicion
Hassert Seidel
Fear
Indian Priest
Der Spion
Steinau
Under the Red Robe
Gil de Berault
Tempête sur l'Asie
Erich Keith
Le Comte Kostia
Comte Kostia
Liebestaumel
Jalenko
People in Ecstasy
Professor Munk
Whistling in the Dark
Joseph Jones
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
Liebe macht blind
The Head of Janus
Dr. Warren
Das Land ohne Frauen
Dick Ashton
The Other Side
Hauptmann Stanhope
Different from the Others
Paul Körner
The Movie City of Hollywood
Self
Impetuous Youth
Renées Vater
The Wife's Crusade
Der Staatsanwalt
The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Jettchen Geberts Geschichte. 1. Jettchen Gebert
Doktor Köstling
Rasputin, Demon of the Women
Grigori Rasputin
Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore
Hektor Dalmore
Don Carlos und Elisabeth
Don Carlos
Landstraße und Großstadt
Raphael, der Geiger
The Passing of the Third Floor Back
The Stranger
Around the World in 80 Days
Phineas Fogg
The Men in Her Life
Stanislas Rosing
Universal Horror
(archive footage)
Diary of a Lost Woman
Dr. Julius
The Congress Dances
Fürst Metternich
A Man's Past
Paul La Roche
The Beloved Rogue
King Louis XI
Prostitution II
Alfred Werner
Wenn Tote sprechen
Richard von Worth
Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!
The Wandering Jew
Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
Moriturus
Wilmos, sanatorium director
The Last Performance
Erik the Great
The Only Girl
Marquis de Pontignac
Patience
Sir Percy Parker
The Man Who Committed the Murder
Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
F.P.1
Maj. Ellissen
The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi
Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
The Black Hussar
Captain Hansgeorg von Hochberg
Journey into the Night
Der Maler
The Many Faces of Dracula
Self (archive footage)
The Great Passion
Himself
Der Weg des Todes
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Self (archive footage)
Desire: The Tragedy of a Dancer
Ivan
The Flight in the Night
Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
The Love Storm
Kingsley
The Count of Cagliostro
Minister
The Student of Prague
Balduin, Student
The Night of the Decision
General Gregori Platoff
Should We Be Silent?
Paul Hartwig, Maler
Evening – Night – Morning
Brilburn - Maud's brother
Opfer der Gesellschaft
The Merry-Go-Round
Petre Karvan
Der Leidensweg der Inge Krafft
Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon
Christian Wahnschaffe
Die Augen der Welt
Johannes Kay
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall
Das Geheimnis von Bombay
Tossi
Congress Dances
Prince Metternich
Peer Gynt - 2. Teil: Peer Gynts Wanderjahre und Tod
Die Okarina
Two Brothers
Wenzel Schellenberg / Michael Schellenberg
The Film in the Film
Self
Es werde Licht! 4. Teil: Sündige Mütter
Kramer
Visual Effects: The Thief of Bagdad
Jaffar (archival footage)
Prostitution
Alfred Werner
Not of the Woman Born
Satan