Veidt, Conrad

ACTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 22 Jan 1893, Potsdam, Brandenburg - DIED 3 Apr 1943, Hollywood, California
BIRTH NAME Weidt, Hans Walter Conrad
CAUSE OF DEATH heart attack
GRAVE LOCATION London: Golders Green, 62 Hoop Lane (Hall of Memory Columbarium, Niche 5712 (ashes))

Conrad Veidt was educated by Max Reinhardt and debuted on the stage in 1913. His part in the expressionist movie "Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari" made him famous. In 1918 he had married actress Gussy Holl, but they were divorced in 1922. He married Felicitas Radke in 1923. They had a daughter, Viola (1925-2004), but in 1932 they seperated.

In 1926 he was the best paid German actor after Emil Jannings. He went to Hollywood where he played next to John Barrymore in "The Beloved Rogue". In 1929 he returned to Germany, where he had parts in "Der Kongress Tanzt", "Ich und die Kaiserin".

After the nazis came to power he agrees to play the main part in "Jew Suess", an English pro-Semitic movie. Goebbels tried to stop him by promising his partly Jewish third wife Lily Preger (since 1933) an Aryan-certificate, but Veidt made the movie and emigrated to England in 1934. In 1939 he became a British citizen.

In 1940 he returned to Hollywood and in 1942 he was in "Casablanca". In total Veidt had parts in over 100 movies. In 1943 he suddenly died of a heart attack while playing golf. He was cremated and his widow kept his ashes until she died in 1980. Since 1998 they can be found at Golders Green Crematorium in London. He was married three times and had a daughter from his second wife Felicitas Radke.

Family
• Wife: Holl, Gussy (1918-1922)

Related persons
• cooperated with Langer, Gilda

Events
18/10/1921Elisabeth Bergner's Berlin debut in "Der lasterhafte Herr Tschu" at the Lessing Theatre [Bergner, Elisabeth]
28/3/1929Performance of Frank Wedekind's "Der Marquis von Keith" in honour of the recently deceased Albert Steinrück. It took place at the Schauspielhaus at the Gendarmemarkt in Belrin. Director was Leopold Jessner and Heinrich Mann speeched. Among the participating actors were Heinrich George, Werner Krauss, Carola Neher, Tilla Durieux, Jakob Tiedtke, Conrad Veidt, Max Pallenberg, Elisabeth Bergner, Paul Wegener, Hans Albers, Käthe Dorsch and Veit Harlan. [Albers, Hans][Bergner, Elisabeth][Brausewetter, Hans][Dietrich, Marlene][Durieux, Tilla][George, Heinrich][Goetz, Curt][Harlan, Veit][Körber, Hilde][Kortner, Fritz][Krauss, Werner][Mann, Heinrich][Pallenberg, Max][Steinrück, Albert][Wedekind, Frank][Wedekind, Tilly][Wegener, Paul]

Images

The ashes of Conrad Veidt inside the columbarium of Golders Green Crematorium, London.
Picture by Androom (17 Mar 2006)

 

Sources
Find-A-Grave
Internet Movie Database
Hier entsteht eine neue Internetpräsenz
Albert Steinrück: Abschiedsvorstellung am Gendarmenmarkt


Veit, Philipp

Published: 15 Apr 2006
Last update: 19 Jan 2022