- Emil Jannings
Infobox actor
name = Emil Jannings
imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date|1884|7|23|mf=y
location =Rorschach ,Switzerland
deathdate = death date and age|1950|1|3|1884|7|23|mf=y
deathplace =Strobl ,Austria
birthname = Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz
academyawards = Best Actor
1928 "The Last Command" and
"The Way of All Flesh"Emil Jannings (
July 23 ,1884 –January 3 ,1950 ) was a Germanactor and the first winner of theAcademy Award for Best Actor .Early life
He was christened Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz in
Rorschach ,Switzerland , the son of a German mother and an American father.Career
Jannings was a theater actor who eventually started a career in
Hollywood . He won the 1928 Oscar for two films, "The Way of All Flesh " and "The Last Command". He also starred inF. W. Murnau 's "The Last Laugh ", a film notable in silent cinema for its lack of title cards, and in the 1922 film version ofShakespeare 's "Othello ".His Hollywood career came to an end when
talkies made his thick German accent difficult to understand. He returned toEurope , where he starred oppositeMarlene Dietrich in the 1930 film "The Blue Angel", filmed in English simultaneously with its German version "Der blaue Engel ". He soon spotted that the unknown Dietrich was a star in the making, while his own career was past its peak, and so he was especially spiteful to her throughout the filming, according to her.Besides "The Last Laugh", Jannings worked with Murnau on two other films, playing the title character in "
Herr Tartüff " andMephistopheles in "Faust".Later life
During the
Third Reich , he starred in several films which were intended to promoteNazism , particularly the "Führerprinzip ": "Der Herrscher" ("The Ruler" 1937), "The Youth of Frederick the Great" (1935), and "The Dismissal of Bismarck" (1942). Minister of PropagandaJoseph Goebbels named him "Artist of the State" in 1941. His involvement with the Nazis ended any chance he may have had for a comeback in theUnited States .When troops of the
Allied Powers entered Germany in 1945, Jannings reportedly carried his 1928 Best Actor Oscar with him as proof of his former association with Hollywood. However, Jannings' active role inNazi propaganda meant he was subject todenazification , and any comeback attempt was doomed. He then retired to his farm inAustria . Very proficient in money matters, Jannings was one of the highest paid actors of his time.Jannings died in 1950 in
Strobl ,Austria , ofcancer . His Best Actor Oscar is now on display at the Filmmuseum inBerlin ,Germany .Filmography
References
External links
*imdb name|id=0417837|name=Emil Jannings
*findagrave|7040055
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=673 Photographs of Emil Jannings]
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