From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Felix Bressart (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1949) was a German-American actor of stage and screen.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Felix Bressart (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1949) was a German-American actor of stage and screen.
Felix Bressart (pronounced "BRESS-ert") was born in East Prussia, Germany (now part of Russia) and was already a very experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1928. He started off as a supporting actor, e.g. as the Bailiff in the box-office hit Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930), but had soon established himself in leading roles of minor movies. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Jewish-born Bressart had to leave Germany and continued his career in German-speaking movies in Austria, where Jewish artists were still relatively safe. After no fewer than 30 films in eight years, he emigrated to the United States.
One of Bressart's former European colleagues was Joe Pasternak, now a successful Hollywood producer. Bressart's first American film was Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), a vehicle for Universal Pictures' top attraction, Deanna Durbin. Pasternak also selected the reliable Bressart to perform in a screen test opposite Pasternak's newest discovery, Gloria Jean. The influential German community in Hollywood helped to establish Bressart in America, as his earliest American movies were directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Henry Koster, and Wilhelm Thiele (director of Die Drei von der Tankstelle).
Bressart scored a great success in Lubitsch's Ninotchka, produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM signed Bressart to a studio contract in 1939. Most of his MGM work consisted of featured roles in major films like Edison, the Man.
He combined his mildly inflected East European accent with a soft-spoken delivery to create kindly, friendly characters, as in Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be, in which he sensitively recites Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from The Merchant of Venice. Lubitsch also directed Bressart to similar effect in The Shop Around the Corner.
Bressart soon became a popular character actor in films like Blossoms in the Dust (1941), The Seventh Cross (1944), and Without Love (1945). Perhaps his largest role was in RKO Radio Pictures' "B" musical comedy Ding Dong Williams, filmed in 1945. Bressart, billed third, played the bemused supervisor of a movie studio's music department, and appeared in formal wear to conduct Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu."
After almost 40 Hollywood pictures, Felix Bressart suddenly died of leukemia at the age of 57. His last film was My Friend Irma (1949), the movie version of a popular radio show. Bressart died during production, forcing the producers to finish the film with Hans Conried. In the final film, Conried speaks throughout, but Bressart is still seen in the long shots.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Felix Bressart, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0107795
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q92133
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Filmography (Movies)
Take One False Step
Character:Professor Morris Avrum
Release Date:14/08/1949
Portrait of Jennie
Character:Pete
Release Date:25/12/1948
A Song Is Born
Character:Professor Gerkikoff
Release Date:19/10/1948
I've Always Loved You
Character:Frederick Hassman
Release Date:02/12/1946
Her Sister's Secret
Character:Pepe
Release Date:23/09/1946
The Thrill of Brazil
Character:Ludwig Kriegspiel
Release Date:06/09/1946
Ding Dong Williams
Character:Hugo Meyerheld
Release Date:15/04/1946
Dangerous Partners
Character:Professor Budlow
Release Date:07/06/1945
Without Love
Character:Prof. Ginza
Release Date:22/03/1945
Blonde Fever
Character:Johnny
Release Date:05/12/1944
Greenwich Village
Character:Hofer
Release Date:27/09/1944
The Seventh Cross
Character:Poldi Schlamm
Release Date:24/07/1944
Song of Russia
Character:Petrov
Release Date:10/02/1944
Don't Be a Sucker!
Character:Anti-Nazi Teacher
Release Date:04/07/1943
Above Suspicion
Character:Mr. A. Werner
Release Date:31/05/1943
Three Hearts for Julia
Character:Anton Ottoway
Release Date:21/05/1943
Iceland
Character:Papa Jonsdottir
Release Date:21/09/1942
Crossroads
Character:Dr. Andre Tessier
Release Date:23/07/1942
To Be or Not to Be
Character:Greenberg
Release Date:06/03/1942
Mr. and Mrs. North
Character:Arthur Talbot
Release Date:23/01/1942
Kathleen
Character:Mr. Schoner
Release Date:18/12/1941
Married Bachelor
Character:Professor Milic
Release Date:16/10/1941
Blossoms in the Dust
Character:Dr. Max Breslar
Release Date:15/08/1941
Ziegfeld Girl
Character:Mischa
Release Date:25/04/1941
Comrade X
Character:Igor Yahupitz / Vanya
Release Date:13/12/1940
Bitter Sweet
Character:Max
Release Date:08/11/1940
Escape
Character:Fritz Keller
Release Date:01/11/1940
Third Finger, Left Hand
Character:August "Gussie" Winkel
Release Date:11/10/1940
Edison, the Man
Character:Michael Simon
Release Date:10/05/1940
It All Came True
Character:The Great Boldini
Release Date:06/04/1940
The Shop Around the Corner
Character:Pirovitch
Release Date:12/01/1940
Swanee River
Character:Henry Kleber
Release Date:29/12/1939
Ninotchka
Character:Comrade Buljanoff
Release Date:16/11/1939
Bridal Suite
Character:Maxl
Release Date:26/05/1939
Three Smart Girls Grow Up
Character:Music Teacher
Release Date:24/03/1939
Heut' ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben
Character:Max Kaspar
Release Date:21/05/1936
Four and a Half Musketeers
Character:Professor Volksmann
Release Date:01/10/1935
Ball at the Savoy
Character:Birowitsch
Release Date:11/04/1935
Everything for the Company
Character:Philipp Sonndorfer
Release Date:04/04/1935
Peter
Character:Grandfather
Release Date:19/12/1934
Salto in die Seligkeit
Character:Kriegel, Geheimdetektiv
Release Date:31/10/1934
C'était un musicien
Character:Baron Vandernyff
Release Date:11/05/1934
Wie d'Warret würkt
Character:Mr. Schramek
Release Date:01/12/1933
...und wer küßt mich?
Character:Direktor Ritter
Release Date:07/03/1933
The Lucky Top Hat
Character:Gottfried Jonathan Bankbeamter
Release Date:18/08/1932
Holzapfel Knows Everything
Character:Johannes Georg Holzapfel
Release Date:05/02/1932
Visul lui Tanase
Character:star
Release Date:01/01/1932
The Office Manager
Character:Joachim Reißnagel
Release Date:19/11/1931
Comradeship
Character:
Release Date:17/11/1931
Excursion into Life
Character:Hirsekorn - Schauspieler und Chauffeur
Release Date:30/09/1931
Fanfare about love
Character:Major Fröschen
Release Date:03/09/1931
No More Love
Character:Jean
Release Date:26/07/1931
Terror of the Garrison
Character:Musketier Kulicke
Release Date:23/04/1931
True Jacob
Character:Böcklein
Release Date:16/03/1931
The Private Secretary
Character:Bankdiener Hasel
Release Date:16/01/1931
Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du
Character:Richard
Release Date:15/12/1930
Three Days in the Guardhouse
Character:Franz Nowotni
Release Date:10/11/1930
Old Song
Character:Jacques
Release Date:15/10/1930
The Three from the Filling Station
Character:Gerichtsvollzieher
Release Date:15/09/1930
The Tender Relatives
Character:Onkel Emil
Release Date:28/08/1930
The fight with the dragon or: The tragedy of the lodger
Character:
Release Date:13/08/1930
There is a woman who will never forget you
Character:
Release Date:27/03/1930
Liebe im Kuhstall
Character:Der Gerichtsvollzieher
Release Date:19/10/1928
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