Gebühr, Otto

ACTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 29 May 1877, Kettwig, Nordrhein-Westfalen (now: Essen-Ketwig) - DIED 13 Mar 1954, Wiesbaden, Hessen
CAUSE OF DEATH heart attack
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Evangelischer Friedhof der Sophiengemeinde III, Freienwalder Straße 19b, Mitte (Abt. 7, Reihe 4, Grabstätte Nr. 8)

Otto Gebühr was the son of a merchant with the same name. After his father's early death he lived in Cologne, where he went to school. He received a commercial education and in 1896 he started working as a correspondent at Hergersberg & Co.

In Berlin he took acting lessons and he lived as a travelling actor until he was offered an engagement at the Stadttheater in Görlitz. From 1889 to 1909 he worked at the Royal Court Theatre in Dresden and in 1908 he moved on to the Lessingtheater in Berlin. In 1910 he married Cornelia Bertha Julius. They had a daughter, the actress Hilde Gebühr (1910-1945). During the First World War he served in the German army where he reached the rank of lieutenant. From 1917 to 1919 he worked for Max Reinhardt at the Deutschen Theater in Berlin.

In 1917 his movie career started. Because of his enormous likeness to Frederick the Great he played the king many times during his career. The first time was in "Die Tänzerin Barbarina" (1920). In 1938 he became a Staatsschauspieler (Actor of State). In 1942 he was in "Der Grosse König" ("The Great King"), directed by Veit Harlan. In 1942 he married the actress Doris Krüger (1913-1950) and they had a son, the scientist Michael Gebühr.

In 1944 Joseph Goebbels put him on the list of indispensable actors. After the war he returned to the theatre in 1947 and starting in 1950 he appeared in many more movies, two of them directed by Harlan in 1953. In 1954 he died of a heart attack.

Family
• Wife: Krüger, Doris (1942-1950)

Related persons
• was directed by Harlan, Veit
• was sculpted by Thorak, Josef

Images

Otto Gebühr.
 

Otto Gebühr.
(1927-1928)
Picture by Binder

 

The grave of Otto Gebühr at the Evangelischer Friedhof der Sophiengemeinde, Berlin.
Picture by Androom (27 Aug 2008)

 

Otto Gebühr.
(1941-1944)
Picture by Foto Binz

 

Sources
Otto Gebühr - Wikipedia (DE)


Gegenbauer, Josef Anton

Published: 09 Jan 2011
Last update: 15 Feb 2022