Viertel, Berthold

AUTHOR, DRAMATIST, ESSAYIST, TRANSLATOR, FILM DIRECTOR (AUSTRIA)
BORN 28 Jun 1885, Wien - DIED 24 Sep 1953, Wien
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Zentralfriedhof, Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, Simmering (Gruppe 0, Reihe 01, Nummer 104)

Bethold Vietel knew Karl Kraus and contributed to Kraus' publication "Der Fackel" from 1910 to 1911. After the First World War Graf von Seebach invited him to work at the Court Theatre in Dresden. In 1918 he married the actress and author Salka Viertel. From 1918 to 1921 he was active as a director in Dresden and he staged the premiere of Walter Hasenclever's "Jenseits". In 1921 a volume of his poetry, "Die Bahn", was published.

After Dresden he worked in Berlin and in Zürich as a director and as a dramatist. In 1927 he was contracted Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and he left for Hollywood. There he wrote the script for F.W. Murnau's "4 Devils" (1928). He was the director of the last silent movie that the company produced, "The One Woman Idea" (1929). He directed several further movies for Paramount. In 1933 he worked in Berlin. When the nazis came to power his Jewish heritage forced him to leave for France. From there he travelled to England and the USA.

In 1947 he returned to Europe. In that same year he divorced Salka Viertel and he married Elisabeth Neumann in 1949. He had lived with her since 1940. After working in London and Zürich he returned to Vienna in 1949. There he died in 1953.

Family
• Wife: Neumann-Viertel, Elisabeth (1949-1953)

Images

The grave of Berthold Viertel and Elisabeth Viertel-Neumann at the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (28 Aug 2016)

 

Sources
Berthold Viertel - Wikipedia


Vignon, Claude

Published: 19 Sep 2020
Last update: 18 Aug 2022