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Wolfgang Zilzer

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Wolfgang Zilzer
Zilzer in Enemy of Women (1944)
Born(1901-01-20)January 20, 1901
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJune 26, 1991(1991-06-26) (aged 90)
Berlin, Germany
Other namesPaul Andor
John Voight, John Voigt[1][2]
OccupationActor
Years active1915–1986
SpouseLotte Palfi

Wolfgang Zilzer (January 20, 1901 – June 26, 1991) was a German-American stage and film actor, often under the stage name Paul Andor.[3]

Biography

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Zilzer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German-Jewish emigrant Max Zilzer,[citation needed] who was employed at the local theater. Zilzer's mother died soon after his birth, and his father returned to Germany in 1905.

Zilzer appeared on stage in child roles and made his first movie appearance in the age of 14. Around 1930, he moved back to the United States, but had only small success as an actor. He returned to Germany. According to a 1943 Jewish Telegraphic Agency newspaper article, he "was a featured player of UFA in the palmy days before the Furore [Hitler]",[3] but after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Zilzer fled to France, where he worked dubbing voices in several French versions of Hollywood productions. In 1935, Zilzer returned to Germany again, finally emigrating to the US in 1937. Applying for a visa at the U.S. embassy, he first realized he already had US citizenship. After his emigration, he started to work with Ernst Lubitsch in several anti-Nazi movies, using pseudonyms[3] to protect his father, who was still living in Berlin. With appearances in films from 1915 to 1986, Zilzer had one of the longest careers in cinema history. The Internet Broadway Database lists a single credit for a Wolfgang Zilzer, in the 1943 play The Barber Had Two Sons.[4]

Zilzer married the German-Jewish actress Lotte Palfi; both appeared in the 1942 movie Casablanca. Zilzer played the man without a passport who is shot by French policemen at the beginning of the film. After World War II, Zilzer performed on stage in the United States and in Germany.

Later in life he became known to a new audience as a recurring character "Henry" on Late Night with David Letterman, who Letterman would continuously fire for mundane reasons. These exchanges were almost always prefaced by Henry mentioning he was a short time away from collecting his pension.

At the end of the 1980s Zilzer contracted Parkinson's disease and decided to return to Germany. His wife refused to do so, and their marriage ended in divorce after almost 50 years, close to both their deaths.

Wolfgang Zilzer died in Berlin on June 26, 1991, aged 90 and is buried at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf.

Selected filmography

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Partial television credits

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References

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  1. ^ Staedeli, Thomas. "Portrait of the actor Wolfgang Zilzer/Paul Andor by Thomas Staedeli". Autogramme / Autographen / Autographs by Cyranos Autogramm. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Wolfgang Zilzer". filmportal.de (in German). 20 January 1901. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Zigmond, Helen (August 27, 1943). "Our Film Folk (column)". Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. JTA – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ Wolfgang Zilzer at the Internet Broadway Database

Bibliography

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  • John Holmstrom, The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 17.
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