Paul Henreid

Paul Georg Julius Freiherr von Hernreid, Ritter von Wasel-Waldingau (January 10, 1908 – March 29, 1992) was an Austrian and American actor and filmmaker. He had a successful stage and film career in German-language productions, before moving to Great Britain and the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. Some of his best-known film roles included Capt. Karl Marsen in Night Train to Munich, Victor Laszlo in Casablanca (1942) and Jerry Durrance in Now, Voyager (1942).

After the Second World War, Henreid was blacklisted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and worked mainly in independent films and in Europe. He eventually returned to Hollywood in 1954.

Early life and education Paul Henreid was born on January 10, 1908, as Paul Georg Julius Freiherr von Hernreid Ritter von Wasel-Waldingau in Trieste, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of Maria-Luise (Lendecke) and Karl Alphons Hernreid, a financial adviser to Emperor Franz Joseph I. Born as Carl Hirsch, Karl von Hernreid converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1904 due to anti-semitism in Austria-Hungary, although that did not save his son being persecuted as a Jew by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Paul von Henreid trained for the theatre in Vienna, over his family's objections, attending the Theresianische Akademie. During this time, he worked at a publishing house while attending school. Karl died in 1916. The family fortune had dwindled by the time his son graduated from the Akademie.

Career Roles in Germany and Austria While performing in a play at the Akademie, Henreid was discovered by Otto Preminger, then working for the director Max Reinhardt. Henreid then joined Reinhardt's theater company. In 1935, Henreid was cast in the Austrian film Jersey Lilly. Henreid went to London in 1937 to portray Prince Albert in the first British stage production of Victoria Regina.

In 1939, Henreid had a major supporting role as German teacher Max Staefel in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. The following year, he received third billing as a German Gestapo agent in the thriller Night Train to Munich. In 1940, Henreid also performed in a minor role in the British musical comedy Under Your Hat. That same year, he portrayed a German army officer in the film Madman of Europe. That same year, he signed a contract with the RKO Pictures in Hollywood. RKO dropped the "von" from his name to make it sound less Germanic. He also became a citizen of the United States.

Moving to Warner Brothers in 1942, the studio cast Henreid as Jeremiah Durrance in the romance Now, Voyager, playing opposite Bette Davis. His role was that of a married man who meets the "spinster" Davis on an ocean voyage. His next role was as Victor Laszlo, an anti-Nazi resistance leader in the 1942 romantic drama Casablanca. The cast included Claude Rains, Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman, who plays Laszlo's wife.

Henreid briefly rejoined RKO to play a pirate with Maureen O'Hara in the studio's 1945 swashbuckler, The Spanish Main. Returning to Warner Bros., he was cast in 1946 in Devotion, a biopic of the Brontë family in which Henreid portrays Charlotte Bronte's husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls. He was cast again with Parker in the 1946 adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel, Of Human Bondage. He played Philip Carey, a medical student with a clubfoot.

Blacklisting and independent films Henreid recounted that in the late 1940s, he participated in a protest by some Hollywood actors in Washington, D.C. against the anti-Communist excesses of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

For the next several years, Henreid was only able to gain roles in independent films with lower budgets. He appeared in the 1949 adventure film Rope of Sand, playing a villain opposite Burt Lancaster. In 1950, Henreid made a low-budget film for Edward and Harry Danziger, So Young, So Bad, as a school psychiatrist. This film was followed by an offer from producer Sam Katzman to play the pirate Jean Lafitte in Last of the Buccaneers (1950). Henreid then went to France for the 1951 romance film Pardon My French. He then returned to Katzman for the 1952 film Thief of Damascus. He directed and played the lead role in For Men Only (1952), a college drama about hazing. Later, in the United Kingdom, he made the films Stolen Face (1952) and Mantrap (1953). He then went back to Katzman for the 1953 fantasy adventure Siren of Bagdad, playing a magician. thumb In the early 1950s, Henreid began directing both films and television shows. His directorial credits include American television episodes of:

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Maverick Bonanza The Virginian The Big Valley

Henreid also directed the 1956 film A Woman's Devotion, in which he played a supporting role, Girls on the Loose (1958), and Live Fast, Die Young (1958). In 1964, he directed Dead Ringer, which stars Bette Davis and features Henreid's daughter, Monika Henreid, in a minor role. While working as a director, Henreid continued to accept some small acting parts:

Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957) Holiday for Lovers (1959) Never So Few (1959) Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) Operation Crossbow (1965) The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) The Failing of Raymond (1971)

In 1973, Henreid returned to Broadway to perform in a revival of the George Bernard Shaw drama, Don Juan in Hell. Henreid's final film role was in the 1977 horror film Exorcist II: The Heretic, where he played a cardinal.

Personal life

Henreid married Elizabeth Camilla Julia "Lisl" Glück (1908–1993) in 1936; the couple adopted two daughters.

Death Henreid died in 1992, at age 84, of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, after suffering a stroke. – Paul Rencourt For Men Only (1952) as Dr. Stephen Brice Thief of Damascus (1952) as General Abu Amdar Stolen Face (1952) as Dr. Philip Ritter Dans la vie tout s'arrange (1952) as Paul Rencourt Mantrap, aka Woman in Hiding (1953) as Hugo Bishop Siren of Bagdad (1953) as Kazah the Great Cabaret (1954) as Konrad Hegner Deep in My Heart (1954) as Florenz Ziegfeld Pirates of Tripoli (1955) as Edri al-Gadrian Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956) as Pierre A Woman's Devotion (1956) as Capt. Henrique Monteros Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957) as Anton Holiday for Lovers (1959) as Eduardo Barroso Never So Few (1959) as Nikko Regas Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) as Etienne Laurier Operation Crossbow (1965) as Gen. Ziemann The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) as The General The Failing of Raymond (1971, TV Movie) as Dr. Abel Death Among Friends (1975, TV Movie) as Otto Schiller Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) as The Cardinal (final film role)

As himself or narrator Hollywood Canteen (1944) – himself Peking Remembered (1967 documentary) – narrator

As producer Hollow Triumph (1948) For Men Only (1952)

As director The Reprieve (S4/Ep2) (1959) A Stranger Everywhere (S4/Ep10) (1968)

Film For Men Only (1952) A Woman's Devotion (1956) Live Fast, Die Young (1958) Girls on the Loose (1958) Dead Ringer (1964) Ballad in Blue (1964)

Television Maverick "Passage to Fort Doom" (1959) The Californians (1957–1959), various episodes Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series episode "The Landlady," "Cell 227," and 26 others (1957–1962) The June Allyson Show (1960) episode 'The Lie' The Virginian "Long Ride to Wind River" (1966) The Big Valley (9 episodes) (TV Series 1965–1968) Johnny Staccato TV series episode 'The Mask of Jason', “A Nice Little Town’ (1960)

As writer Ballad in Blue (1964) (story)

Music Deception (1946) (Hollenius' Cello Concerto, Cello Concerto in D major, uncredited and dubbed by Eleanor Slatkin) Stolen Face (1952) (song "Rolling Home")

Radio appearances Year Program Episode/source Notes 5/10/43 Lux Radio Theatre "Now, Voyager" w/ Ida Lupino 9/10/45 Lux Radio Theatre "Experiment Perilous" w/ Virginia Bruce 10/1/45 Lux Radio Theatre "Mr. Skeffington" w/ Bette Davis 1/3/46 Suspense "Angel of Death" 3/14/46 Suspense "No More Alice"