Forst, Willi

ACTOR, DIRECTOR (AUSTRIA)
BORN 7 Apr 1903, Wien - DIED 11 Aug 1980, Wien: Hanusch-Krankenhaus
BIRTH NAME Frohs, Wilhelm Anton
CAUSE OF DEATH cancer
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Neustift am Walde Friedhof, Pötzleinsdorfer Höhe 2 (Gruppe L, Reihe 10, Nummer 24)

Willy Forst started as an amateur actor and in 1919 he was engaged at the theatre in Teschen without having had any acting education. He worked in several cities in Bohemia and at the Metropol-Theater in Berlin, the Carl-Theater in Vienna, the Theater des Westens in Berlin and at the Apollotheater in Vienna before Max Reinhardt engaged him at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1928.

In the twenties he also started a movie career. His first major part was opposite Marlene Dietrich in "Café Elektric" in 1927. They may have been lovers around that time. He appeared in one of the first German sound movies "Atlantik" in 1929. In 1930 he played with Marlene Dietrich in "Gefahren der Brautzeit". His musical comedies like "Zwei Herzen im 3/4 Takt" were very successful. In 1933 he worked as a director as well. In 1940 he refused a part in the nazo propaganda movie "Jud Süss". After the war his movie "Die "Sunderin" (1951) caused a scandal because Hildegard Knef appeared naked as a model for a painter. After "Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume" (1957) he withdrew from the cinema.

Related persons
• was the lover of Dietrich, Marlene

Images

Willi Forst.
(1941-1944)

 

The grave of Willi Forst at the Friedhof Neustift am Walde, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (27 Aug 2016)

 

Sources
Willi Forst – Wikipedia
Willi Forst


Forster, Johann Reinhold

Published: 29 Mar 2008
Last update: 09 Dec 2023