From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 – May 25, 2000) was a Czech-born film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was František Lederer. Lederer's first American movies were Man of Two Worlds (1934), Romance in Manhattan (1934), with Ginger Rogers, The Gay Deception (1935), with Frances Dee, and One Rainy Afternoon (1936). He was cast as the lead with Katharine Hepburn in the 1935 film Break of Hearts, but the producers replaced him with Charles Boyer. It was Irving Thalberg's plan to make Lederer "the biggest star in Hollywood" but the death of Thalberg ended this possibility.
Although he continued to play leads occasionally – notably when he was a playboy in Mitchell Leisen's Midnight with Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore in 1939 – in the late 1930s Lederer began to expand his character parts, even playing villains. Edward G. Robinson praised Lederer's performance as a German American Bundist in Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, and he earned plaudits for his portrayal of a fascist in The Man I Married (1940) with Joan Bennett. He also played Count Dracula for The Return of Dracula in 1958. Throughout his career, Lederer, who studied with Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City, continued to take stage acting seriously, and he performed often both in New York and elsewhere. He appeared in stage productions of Golden Boy (1937), Seventh Heaven (1939), No Time for Comedy (1939), in which he replaced Laurence Olivier, The Play's the Thing (1942), A Doll's House (1944), Arms and the Man (1950), The Sleeping Prince (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1958).
Although he took a break from making films in 1941, in order to concentrate on his stage work, he returned to the silver screen in 1944, appearing in Voice in the Wind and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and in films such as Jean Renoir's The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Million Dollar Weekend (1948). He took another break from Hollywood in 1950, after making Surrender (1950), and returned in 1956 with Lisbon and the light comedy The Ambassador's Daughter. His final film appearance was in Terror Is a Man in 1959. During the 1950s, he served as honorary mayor of Canoga Park.
He would continue to make television appearances for the next 10 years in such shows as Sally, The Untouchables, Ben Casey, Blue Light, Mission: Impossible and That Girl. His final television appearance occurred in a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery called "The Devil Is Not Mocked". In it, he reprised his role as Dracula from The Return of Dracula.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0496473
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q78825
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Filmography (Movies)
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:02/07/2009
A Century of Science Fiction
Character:Self
Release Date:01/01/1996
The Other Eye
Character:Self
Release Date:25/09/1991
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Character:Count Dracula (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1991
Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
Character:Self - Interviewee
Release Date:07/10/1976
Terror Is a Man
Character:Dr. Charles Girard
Release Date:01/11/1959
The Return of Dracula
Character:Count Dracula
Release Date:21/05/1958
Maracaibo
Character:Miguel Orlando
Release Date:21/05/1958
Lisbon
Character:Seraphim
Release Date:17/08/1956
The Ambassador's Daughter
Character:Prince Nicholas Obelski
Release Date:26/07/1956
Stolen Identity
Character:Claude Manelli
Release Date:03/04/1953
Adventures in Vienna
Character:Claude Manelli
Release Date:20/08/1952
Surrender
Character:Henry Vaan
Release Date:15/09/1950
A Woman of Distinction
Character:Paul Simone
Release Date:16/03/1950
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Character:Baron Rocco de Greffi
Release Date:21/02/1950
Million Dollar Weekend
Character:Alan Marker
Release Date:29/10/1948
The Madonna's Secret
Character:James Harlan Corbin
Release Date:16/02/1946
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Character:Joseph
Release Date:15/02/1946
Voice in the Wind
Character:Jan Volny / El Hombre
Release Date:03/03/1944
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Character:Esteban / Manuel
Release Date:11/02/1944
Puddin' Head
Character:Prince Karl
Release Date:25/06/1941
The Man I Married
Character:Eric Hoffman
Release Date:09/08/1940
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Character:Kurt Schneider
Release Date:06/05/1939
Midnight
Character:Jacques Picot
Release Date:24/03/1939
The Lone Wolf in Paris
Character:Michael Lanyard
Release Date:25/05/1938
It's All Yours
Character:Jimmy Barnes
Release Date:01/09/1937
Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
Character:Self (uncredited)
Release Date:13/08/1937
My American Wife
Character:Count Ferdinand von und zu Reidenach
Release Date:06/08/1936
One Rainy Afternoon
Character:Philippe Martin
Release Date:13/05/1936
Starlit Days at the Lido
Character:Self
Release Date:28/09/1935
The Gay Deception
Character:Sandro
Release Date:13/09/1935
Romance in Manhattan
Character:Karel Novak
Release Date:11/01/1935
The Pursuit of Happiness
Character:Max Christmann
Release Date:27/09/1934
Man of Two Worlds
Character:Aigo
Release Date:13/01/1934
Her Majesty Love
Character:Fred von Wellingen
Release Date:06/02/1933
The Fate of Renate Langen
Character:Gerd
Release Date:11/02/1931
Susie Cleans Up
Character:Robert
Release Date:22/11/1930
The Great Passion
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/08/1930
Fundvogel
Character:Jan Bergwall
Release Date:19/05/1930
The emperor's detective
Character:Dr. Wolfgang Crusius
Release Date:19/04/1930
The Road to Dishonour
Character:Boris Borrisoff
Release Date:26/02/1930
Atlantic
Character:Peter
Release Date:28/10/1929
Mother Hummingbird
Character:Georges de Chambry
Release Date:23/10/1929
Meineid
Character:Karl Fenn
Release Date:26/04/1929
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna
Character:Lt. Michael Rostof
Release Date:15/04/1929
Pandora's Box
Character:Alwa Schön
Release Date:30/01/1929
Die seltsame Nacht der Helga Wangen
Character:Werner Hilsoe
Release Date:15/10/1928
Refuge
Character:Martin Falkhagen
Release Date:03/08/1928
Television Appearances
Film Emigration from Nazi Germany
Character:Self
Night Gallery
Character:
Mission: Impossible
Character:Senko Brobin
That Girl
Character:Vittorio Barrini
Blue Light
Character:
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Character:Dr. Jeremias Lipp
Ben Casey
Character:
Behind Closed Doors
Character:Brauer
Matinee Theater
Character:
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Character:
Lux Video Theatre
Character:Charles
Robert Montgomery Presents
Character:Baron
Studio One
Character:Rene d'Arcy
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character:
Images
