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Felix Bressart

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Felix Bressart
Bressart with James Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Born(1895-03-02)March 2, 1895
Eydtkuhnen, East Prussia, Germany
DiedMarch 17, 1949(1949-03-17) (aged 54)
Los Angeles, California, U.S. [1]
OccupationActor
Years active1914–1949
SpouseFrieda Lehner (1925–1949, his death)

Felix Bressart (March 2, 1895 – March 17, 1949)[2] was a German-born actor of stage and screen whose career spanned both Europe and Hollywood.

Early days

Bressart (pronounced "BRESS-ert") was born in Eydtkuhnen, East Prussia, Germany (now in Nesterovsky District, Russia).[1]

Career

Bressart’s acting debut came in 1914 as Malvolio in "Twelfth Night," and he went on to act in Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.[3][1] He was an experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1927. He began as a supporting actor, for example as the bailiff in the boxoffice hit Die Drei von der Tankstelle (The Three from the Filling Station), but soon established himself in leading roles of minor movies. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the Jewish Bressart left Germany and continued his career in German-speaking movies in Austria, where Jewish artists were still relatively safe. After acting in 40 German films, he emigrated to the United States in 1936.[1]

One of Bressart's former European colleagues was Joe Pasternak, who had become a successful producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Bressart's first American film was Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), a vehicle for the Universal Pictures' star, Deanna Durbin. Pasternak chose Bressart to perform in a screen test opposite Pasternak's newest discovery, Gloria Jean. The 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 (who had directed Bressart in The Three from the Filling Station).[citation needed]

At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bressart appeared in Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939), as one of the Soviet emissaries followed by Greta Garbo to Paris. MGM signed Bressart to a contract, where most of work consisted of featured supporting roles in major films including Edison, the Man, Comrade X, and Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner, all released in 1940.[citation needed]

Lobby card from Edison, the Man – Bressart is third from the left.

In Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942), he recites Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from The Merchant of Venice.

Other films Bressart appeared in for MGM include Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Three Hearts for Julia (1943), The Seventh Cross (1944), and Without Love (1945).

Bressart left MGM in 1945 to work for other studios. His first freelance job featured his largest role; he co-starred in the RKO "B" musical comedy Ding Dong Williams, filmed in April 1945. Bressart, billed third, played the bemused supervisor of a movie studio's music department, and appeared in formal wear to conduct an orchestral version of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu. Bressart received special mention for his performance in this low-budget feature.[4]

In all, Bressart appeared in almost 40 Hollywood pictures.

Personal life

Bressart suddenly died of leukemia at the age of 57. His last film was to be My Friend Irma (1949), the movie version of a popular radio show. Bressart died during production, forcing the studio to reshoot his completed scenes with Hans Conried, who was playing the same role, "Professor Kropotkin," on radio.[5] In the finished film, Felix Bressart is still seen in the long shots.

Complete filmography

German language films

English language films

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Felix Bressart, 57, Veteran of Films". The New York Times. New York, New York. March 23, 1949. ProQuest 105703957.
  2. ^ death certificate [1]
  3. ^ "Felix Bressart 'Not His Type'". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. August 15, 1943. p. 43. Retrieved September 27, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Motion Picture Daily, Apr. 17, 1946, p. 6.
  5. ^ Hans Conried interview with Leonard Maltin, published in The Real Stars, Curtis, 1973, p. 79. ISBN 978-8304373297
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