Paul Wegener (11 December 1874 – 13 September 1948) was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in

German expressionist cinema German expressionist cinema () was a part of several related creative movements in Germany in the early 20th century that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in Northweste ...

Acting career

At the age of 20, Wegener decided to end his law studies and concentrate on acting, touring the provinces before joining Max Reinhardt's acting troupe in 1906. In 1912, he turned to the new medium of motion pictures and appeared in the 1913 version of '' The Student of Prague''. It was while making this film that he first heard the old Jewish legend of the

Golem A golem ( ; ) is an animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century ...

and proceeded to adapt the story to film, co-directing and co-writing the script with Henrik Galeen. His first version of the tale '' The Golem'' (1915, now lost) was a success and firmly established Wegener's reputation. In 1917, he made a parody of the story called ''Der Golem und die Tänzerin'', but it was his reworking of the tale, '' The Golem: How He Came into the World'' (1920) which stands as one of the classics of German cinema and helped to cement Wegener's place in cinematic history. Another of his early films was ''Der Yoghi'' (1916), in which he played the role of a yogi and young inventor, and which provided him with the opportunity to accommodate three of his interests, trick photography (it was one of the first films to feature invisibility), the supernatural and Eastern mysticism. In 1926, he appeared in his only Hollywood film, Rex Ingram's '' The Magician'', in which he played the

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

-esque Oliver Haddo in an adaptation of Somerset Maugham's story, followed by ''

The Strange Case of Captain Ramper ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' in 1927. In 1928, he starred alongside Brigitte Helm in his old collaborator Henrik Galeen's adaptation of

Hanns Heinz Ewers Hanns Heinz Ewers (3 November 1871 – 12 June 1943) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his tril ...

' '' Alraune'', playing the

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

-like Professor ten Brinken. In 1932, Wegener made his sound debut in

Richard Oswald Richard Oswald (5 November 1880 – 11 September 1963) was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald. Early life and career Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

/horror film '' Unheimliche Geschichten'', in which he made fun of himself as well as the whole expressionist movie genre.

Life under the Nazi regime

When in 1933 the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

came to power, theatre companies were disbanded and many of the actors and directors were arrested, persecuted or exiled. However Wegener became an actor of the state and appeared in Nazi propaganda films such as '' Mein Leben für Irland'' in 1941 and '' Kolberg'', a 1944–45 propaganda film epic about the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. As the war closed Wegener was one of the first to rebuild cultural life in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He appeared in the title role in a production of Lessing's " Nathan the Wise" at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in September 1945.photo
from the Berlin production, Retrieved 27 July 2015 Despite ill health, he became president of an organization to improve standards for its inhabitants.

Personal life

He was married six times, thirdly and sixthly to the actress Lyda Salmonova (his co-star on several occasions), who became his widow. His fourth wife was Greta Schröder (previously married to the dancer Ernst Matray), who had portrayed the leading lady in F.W. Murnau's ''

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' () is a 1922 silent film, silent German Expressionism (cinema), German Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Henrik Galeen. It stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who ...

'' (1922). The

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

Alfred Wegener and the

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

Kurt Wegener were his cousins, and the

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Prof. Peter P. Wegener was his son.

Late career and death

Wegener's last film was ''Der Grosse Mandarin'' (1948). In July 1948 he reprised his old role as '' Nathan the Wise'' at the Deutschen Theatre, but in the very first scene he collapsed and the curtain was brought down. Two months later, on 13 September 1948, he died in his sleep.

Selected filmography

Actor

* '' The Student of Prague'' (1913) * '' The Golem'' (1915) ost film, only fragments survive* '' The Golem and the Dancing Girl'' (1917) ost film* '' Rübezahl's Wedding'' (1916) * '' The Yogi'' (1916) * '' Hans Trutz in the Land of Plenty'' (1917) * '' The Pied Piper of Hamelin'' (1918) * '' The Foreign Prince'' (1918) * '' The Galley Slave'' (1919) * '' Figures of the Night'' (1920) * ''

Sumurun ''Sumurun'' (a.k.a. ''One Arabian Night'') is a 1920 German silent film directed by Ernst Lubitsch based on a pantomime by . Plot A company of travelling performers arrive at a fictional oriental city. It includes the beautiful dancer Yannaia, ...

'' (1920) * '' The Golem: How He Came into the World'' (1920). * '' Roswolsky's Mistress'' (1921) * '' Loves of Pharaoh'' (1922) * '' A Dying Nation'' (1922) * '' The Love Nest'' (1922) * '' Monna Vanna'' (1922) * ''

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...

'' (1922) * Vanina (1922) * '' The Treasure of Gesine Jacobsen'' (1923) * '' The Island of Tears'' (1923) * '' Living Buddhas'' (1925) * '' The Magician'' (1926) * ''

'' (1927) * '' Queen of the Boulevards'' (1927) * '' Poor Little Sif'' (1927) * ''

Svengali Svengali () is a character in the novel ''Trilby'' which was first published in 1894 by George du Maurier. Svengali is a Jewish man who seduces, dominates and exploits Trilby, a young half-Irish girl, and makes her into a famous singer. Defini ...

'' (1927) * ''

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

'' (1927) *'' World Without Weapons'' (1927) * '' Alraune'' (1928) co-starring Brigitte Helm * '' Unheimliche Geschichten'' (1932) * '' Marshal Forwards'' (1932) * '' The Secret of Johann Orth'' (1932) * '' Inge and the Millions'' (1933) * '' ... nur ein Komödiant'' (1935) * '' The Right to Love'' (1939) * ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'' (1940) * '' My Life for Ireland'' (1941) * '' The Girl from Fano'' (1941) * '' Diesel'' (1942) * '' Wedding in Barenhof'' (1942) * '' Kolberg'' (1945) * '' The Great Mandarin'' (1949) * '' Eyes of Love'' (1951)

Director

* '' The Student of Prague'' (1913) * '' The Golem'' (1915) ost film* '' Rübezahl's Wedding'' (1916) * '' The Yogi'' (1916) * '' The Golem and the Dancing Girl'' (1917) ost film* '' Hans Trutz in the Land of Plenty'' (1917) * '' The Foreign Prince'' (1918) * '' The Pied Piper of Hamelin'' (1918) * '' The Galley Slave'' (1919) * '' The Golem: How He Came into the World'' (1920) * '' Living Buddhas'' (1925) * '' A Man Wants to Get to Germany'' (1934) * '' The Girlfriend of a Big Man'' (1934) * '' Augustus the Strong'' (1936) * '' The Hour of Temptation'' (1936) * '' Moscow-Shanghai'' (1936)

References

External links

Official German Paul Wegener Homepage
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Photographs and literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegener, Paul 1874 births 1948 deaths People from Wąbrzeźno County People from the Province of Prussia German male stage actors German male silent film actors German film directors German silent film directors German horror film directors German fantasy film directors 19th-century German male actors 20th-century German male actors