Anton Walbrook

Adolf Anton Wilhelm Wohlbrück (19 November 18969 August 1967) was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom under the name Anton Walbrook. A popular performer in Austria and pre-war Germany, he left Germany in 1936 out of concerns for his own safety and established a career in British cinema. Walbrook is perhaps best known for his roles in the original British film of Gaslight, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes and Victoria the Great (as Prince Albert).

Early life Walbrook was born in Vienna, Austria, as Adolf Wohlbrück. He was the son of Gisela Rosa (Cohn) and Adolf Ferdinand Bernhard Hermann Wohlbrück. He was descended from ten generations of actors, though his father broke with tradition and was a circus clown. He attended a monastery school and considered becoming a monk, but eventually decided to become an actor.

Career After the war, Wohlbrück built up a career in German theatre and cinema, with the support of his friend Hermine Körner. In the 1930s he was one of Germany's most popular actors. However, as the Nazis came to power, Wohlbrück realized that he could not stay in Germany for long, as he risked being persecuted by the Nazis due to his Jewish mother and his homosexuality. When Nazi Germany absorbed Austria in the 1938 Anschluss, the Austrian option was taken off the table as well.

In 1936, Wohlbrück went to Hollywood to reshoot dialogue for the 1937 multinational The Soldier and the Lady, in which he portrayed the Jules Verne hero Michael Strogoff, and changed his name from Adolf Wohlbrück to Anton Walbrook. He moved to London in 1937, settling down in an area with many German-speaking emigres. One of his neighbours was director Emeric Pressburger, who later cast him in some of his most famous roles. He played Otto in the first London production of Design for Living at the Haymarket Theatre in January 1939 (later transferring to the Savoy Theatre), and running for 233 performances, opposite Diana Wynyard as Gilda and Rex Harrison as Leo. In 1952 he appeared at the Coliseum as Cosmo Constantine in Call Me Madam, also participating alongside Billie Worth, Jeff Warren and Shani Wallis on the EMI cast recording. Producer-director Herbert Wilcox cast him as Prince Albert in Victoria the Great (1937) and its sequel Sixty Glorious Years (1938). In Dangerous Moonlight (1941), a romantic melodrama, he was a Polish pianist torn over whether to return home.

Thorold Dickinson cast Walbrook in Gaslight (1940), in the role played by Charles Boyer in the later Hollywood remake. One of Walbrook's most unusual films was Dickinson's The Queen of Spades (1949), a Gothic thriller based on the Alexander Pushkin short story, in which he co-starred with Edith Evans.

In 1941 Walbrook began collaborating with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, for which he is now best remembered. In 49th Parallel (1941) he played a leader of a Hutterite community in Canada. In The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) he played the role of the dashing, intense military officer Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, a sympathetic German refugee from the Nazi regime. He also portrayed the tyrannical ballet impresario Lermontov in The Red Shoes (1948). His Red Shoes co-star Moira Shearer recalled Walbrook was a loner on set, often wearing dark glasses, as in his character costume in the film, and eating alone.

After the war, he worked in some continental productions, working with Max Ophüls as the ringmaster in La Ronde (1950) and Ludwig I, King of Bavaria in Lola Montès. His ashes were interred in the churchyard of St. John's Church, Hampstead, London, as he had wished in his will. He is buried with his partner Eugene Edwards, a London florist, although Edwards' name is not on the tombstone.

A biography, Anton Walbrook: A Life of Masks and Mirrors by James Downs, was published in 2020. Ralph Fiennes, who played the dandyish hotel concierge Gustave H. in Anderson's film The Grand Budapest Hotel, said that Anderson asked him to study Walbrook's work in The Red Shoes to prepare for his performance. In addition, Gustave's mustache is based on Walbrook's.

Filmography Year Title Role Language DirectorNotes 1915 Marionetten Zirkusdirektor Richard Löwenbein 1923 Martin Luther Silent Karl Wüstenhagen 1924 Mater dolorosa Silent Joseph Delmont 1925 The Secret of Castle Elmshoh Axel Silent Max Obal 1931 Salto Mortale Robby German E. A. Dupont1932 The Pride of Company Three Prinz Willibald German Fred Sauer Three from the Unemployment Office Max Binder German Eugen Thiele The Five Accursed Gentlemen Petersen German Julien Duvivier German-language version of a French film Melody of Love Kapellmeister German Georg Jacoby Baby Lord Cecil German Karel Lamač1933 Waltz War Johann Strauss German Ludwig Berger Helmut Höfert German Hans Steinhoff Victor and Victoria Robert German Reinhold Schünzel1934 George and Georgette French Reinhold Schünzel, Roger Le Bon French-language version of Victor and Victoria The Switched Bride Charles German Karel Lamač Maskerade Ferdinand von Heideneck German Willi Forst A Woman Who Knows What She Wants Axel Basse German Victor JansonThe English Marriage Warwick Brent German Reinhold Schünzel1935 Regine Frank Reynold German Erich Waschneck The Gypsy Baron Sandor Barinkay German Karl Hartl Le Baron tzigane Sandor Barinkay French Karl Hartl, Henri Chomette French-language version of The Gypsy Baron I Was Jack Mortimer Fred Sponer German Carl Froelich The Student of Prague Balduin German Arthur Robison1936 The Czar's Courier Michael Strogoff German Richard Eichberg Michel Strogoff French Richard Eichberg, Jacques de Baroncelli French-language version of The Czar's Courier Tomfoolery Philip German Willi Forst Port Arthur Boris Ranewsky French Nicolas Farkas Port Arthur German Nicolas Farkas German-language version of Port Arthur1937 The Soldier and the Lady Michael Strogoff English George Nicholls Jr. Remake of The Czar's Courier Victoria the Great Prince Albert English Herbert Wilcox The Rat Jean Boucheron English Jack Raymond 1938 Sixty Glorious Years Prince Albert English Herbert Wilcox 1940 Gaslight Paul Mallen/Louis Bauer English Thorold Dickinson 1941 Dangerous Moonlight Stefan Radetzky English Brian Desmond Hurst 49th Parallel Peter English Powell and Pressburger 1943 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff English Powell and Pressburger 1945 The Man from Morocco Karel Langer English Mutz Greenbaum 1948 The Red Shoes Boris Lermontov English Powell and Pressburger 1949 The Queen of Spades Capt. Herman Suvorin English Thorold Dickinson1950 La Ronde Master of Ceremonies French Max Ophüls King for One Night Graf von Lerchenbach German Paul May 1951 Vienna Waltzes Johann Strauss German Emil-Edwin Reinert 1952 Le Plaisir Narrator, German version Max Ophüls Uncredited 1954 On Trial (L'affaire Maurizius) Grégoire Waremme French Julien Duvivier1955 Oh... Rosalinda!! Dr. Falke English Powell and Pressburger Lola Montès King Ludwig I of Bavaria French Max Ophüls 1957 Saint Joan Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais English Otto Preminger 1958 I Accuse! Major Esterhazy English José Ferrer

Television (West Germany) Year TV Show Role Notes 1960 The Duke of Altair based on Venus Observed 1962 Waldo Lydecker based on Laura 1963 Sir Colenso Ridgeon based on The Doctor's Dilemma 1966 Robert and Elisabeth Edward Moulton-Barrett based on Robert and Elizabeth (final film role)