Ullrich Haupt, Jr.

Ullrich Carl Haupt (October 15, 1915 – November 22, 1991) was an American-born German actor. His father, also named Ullrich Haupt, was a German actor who worked in Hollywood films, but he returned to Germany following his father's death in 1931.

Career United States Ulrich Carl Haupt was born in Chicago to Ullrich Haupt (1887–1931) and Anna Maria Beaumes (maiden), both actors. He spent his early childhood in the United States. Although he grew up speaking English and his German later required some reacquisition, he became a notable actor within German-language theatre. Before turning to acting, Haupt worked in Los Angeles as a painter's assistant and initially intended to become a visual artist.

Father's fatal accident When Ullrich, Jr., was , his father, Ullrich Haupt, Sr. – after completing a role as Colonel von Axt in Ronald Colman's 1931 film, The Unholy Garden, with seven other people, including himself (Ullrich Carl Haupt, Jr.) and his 8-year-old brother, Hans Haupt – went on a deer hunting trip in the San Rafael Mountains. His father died of an accidental gunshot wound August 5, 1931, at 8:50 in a remote area, at cabin – about six miles from Figueroa Mountain, and approximately 50 miles north of Santa Barbara.

According to reports, Haupt's chauffeur, Carl Anderson, was unloading his 32.20 rifle when his glove caught the trigger, causing the firearm to discharge. The round struck Haupt in the elbow and severed an artery. Ullrich, Jr., with a guide from another hunting party, rode on horseback roughly fifteen miles to Santa Ynez to summon help. He returned at midnight to Davy Brown's cabin with a physician, Henry Gustaf Hanze, M.D. (né Henry Gustaf Hanze; 1901–1952), of Solvang, but Ullrich, Sr., had died at 8:50 of internal hemorrhage. Hanze himself had been injured en route when his horse fell, breaking two ribs. The horse was not injured.

Their home had been in Inglewood at 221 North Cedar Avenue.

Germany In 1932, Ullrich, Jr., traveled to Berlin to study painting at the United State Schools for Fine and Applied Arts (Vereinigte Staatsschulen für freie und angewandte Kunst). His career direction shifted after attending a performance of Goethe's Faust, which inspired him to pursue acting instead.

In 1936, Haupt was accepted to the State Drama School in Danzig (Staatliche Schauspielschule Danzig), where he began his formal theatrical training in the final years before World War II. He made early stage appearances in Munich at the Bavarian State Theatre (, including the Residence Theatre) around 1940, and soon afterward joined the company directed by Gustaf Gründgens in Berlin.

Haupt’s early stage roles included youthful heroic characters such as Karl Moor in Friedrich Schiller's The Robbers, Leander in Franz Grillparzer's Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen (The Waves of Love), and Leopold in Geschwister ("Brother and Sister"). Over time, his repertoire expanded to include comedy, and during the war years he also worked in film. By the end of World War II he was already well established and continued appearing in films into the mid-1950s.

Haupt's stage career extended over several decades, during which he was noted for his unaffected style and seemingly ageless stage presence. He became associated with the Neue Theater, where he was regarded as one of its formative ensemble members. In 1951 he returned to Düsseldorf, and in 1954 he joined the founding ensemble of a new stage in Hamburg.

Beginning in 1959, Haupt also worked as a director. His productions included Marcel Pagnol's Der goldene Anker (Fanny, the second play of the Marseille Trilogy, Marseille being a city in Southern France)