Robert Peter Freytag (7 April 1916 in Vienna – 8 July 2010 in Munich), known professionally as Robert Freitag, was an Austrian-Swiss stage and screen
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
and
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
.
Life
Freitag was the son of the Swiss opera singer Otto Freitag (Otto Freytag). He was trained as an actor at the
Max Reinhardt Seminar in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. During the Nazi era, he went to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, where he was active as an actor at the
Schauspielhaus Zürich
The Schauspielhaus Zürich () is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the history of German-speaking theater.
It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" (Peacock Stage). The large theatre has 750 seats. The also operates three stages ...
(Zürich playhouse). In 1945, he married the German actress
Maria Becker
Maria Becker (28 January 1920, Berlin, Germany – 5 September 2012, Uster, Canton of Zürich, Switzerland) was a German actress and director.
Life and career
After her parents, Maria Fein and Theodor Becker, divorced, Maria Becker lived with ...
, who had studied acting in Vienna and who since had been at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, which had benefitted from the presence of German émigrés during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Becker became a
Swiss citizen
The primary law governing nationality of Switzerland is the Federal Act on Swiss Citizenship, which came into force on 1 January 2018. Switzerland is a member state of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the Schengen Area. All Swiss ...
by marrying Freitag.
In 1949, Freitag began participating in the
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...
. Later he performed, among other places, at the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg Schauspielhaus or Hamburg Theatre, is a theatre in the St. Georg, Hamburg, St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany
History
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus was co-foun ...
and the
Hamburger Kammerspiele, both in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
.
With his wife Maria Becker and the German stage actor
Will Quadflieg
Friedrich Wilhelm "Will" Quadflieg (; 15 September 1914 – 27 November 2003) was a German actor from Oberhausen. He was the father of actor Christian Quadflieg. He is considered one of Germany's best post-war actors. One of his most widely rec ...
, he founded the
Zürcher Schauspieltruppe in 1956 in
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, where he was also a part-time administrator. That troupe performed throughout the German-speaking countries and in the United States.
On stage, he played many classical and modern roles. Beginning in 1941, he appeared in films— in particular in the starring role in
William Tell
William Tell (, ; ; ; ) is a legendary folk hero of Switzerland. He is known for shooting an apple off his son's head.
According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, ...
. Later, he often appeared on television.
Freitag and Maria Becker were divorced in 1966, but they continued to work together, especially in the travelling theater company ''Schauspieltruppe Zürich'' that they had founded. They had three sons, two of whom—
Benedict Freitag and
Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born, UK-based film, stage and television actor and director.
Biography
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Rob ...
—became actors.
In 1994, Freitag's autobiography, ''Es wollt mir behagen, mit Lachen die Wahrheit zu sagen'' was published by
Pendo Verlag.
In 2001, at the age of 85, he had a role in the made-for-TV film ' (''The
Alexanderplatz
(, ''Alexander Square'') is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the north-ea ...
Lovers''), directed by .
Freitag's second marriage, to the German actress
Maria Sebaldt
Maria Katharina Helene Sebaldt (26 April 1930 – 4 April 2023) was a German actress.
Life
The daughter of a department head of the Paramount film distribution company took private acting lessons from 1946 to 1949 and passed an acting examinat ...
, lasted from 1966 until his death. They lived in
Grünwald, Bavaria
Grünwald (German language, German for ''green forest'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Munich (district), district of Munich, in the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Isar, 12 km southwest ...
. They had a daughter.
Filmography
External links
*
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freitag, Robert
1916 births
2010 deaths
Austrian male film actors
Swiss male film actors
Austrian male television actors
Swiss male television actors
Austrian male stage actors
Swiss male stage actors
20th-century Austrian male actors
20th-century Swiss male actors
Austrian people of Swiss descent