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 F i l m P e o p l e M - Z
Austrian, German and Swiss Film People in Hollywood (Part II - M-Z)
Also see > An Introduction to how these people are selected
POSTERS > Movie Posters and Photos from Art.com
Austrian, German and Swiss Film People in Hollywood
M
Anthony Mann (Emil Anton Bundmann, 1906-1967) - German-American director.
June Marlowe (Gisela Valaria Goetten, 1903-1984) - Austrian-American actress.
Rudolph Maté (1898-1964- ) - Austrian director and cinematographer.
Victor Mature (1915- ) - American actor born to Swiss parents.
Joe May (Julius Otto Mandl, 1880-1954) - Austrian producer, director
Louis B. Mayer (Lazar Meir, 1885-1957) was a co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Mike Mazurki (Michail, 1909-1990) - Austrian actor
Hannerl Melcher (Johanna Melcher, 1937- ) - Austrian actress (Miss Austria 1957) who had a minor role in G.I. BLUES (1960) with Elvis Presley. She also made appearances on US television shows (Today, Ed Sullivan, Arthur Murray) and played at the Sands in Las Vegas and in various Hollywood clubs during the 1960s. Melcher later worked as a fashion model in the US. She now lives in Vienna.
Lothar Mendes (1894-1974) - German director born in Berlin. Directed films in both the UK and US until 1946. A contemporary of actor Conrad Veidt
Ralf Moeller (Möller, 19??- ) - German muscleman/actor known mostly for the short-lived “Conan” TV series and the “cyborg” flicks CYBORG (1989) and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (1992, directed by Roland Emmerich). He played Hagen in GLADIATOR (2000).
Armin Mueller-Stahl (1930- ) - German actor born in East Prussia (now Russia). After an illustrious film career in the GDR, he was blacklisted and left East Germany in 1980. He has appeared in the following US films: AVALON (1990), THE GAME (1997), PEACEMAKER (1997), and THE X-FILES (1998).
Paul Muni (Meier "Muni" Weisenfreund, 1895-1967) - Oscar-winning Austrian actor famous for his "biopic" roles as Emile Zola, Juarez, and Louis Pasteur.
F.W. Murnau (1888-1931) - German director
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Harold Nebenzahl (1922- ) - German-American film producer and screenwriter. Born in Berlin, the son of Seymour Nebenzahl (below). His production work in Hollywood includes CABARET (1972) and Billy Wilder's FEDORA (1978).
Seymour Nebenzahl (1897-1961, aka Nebenzal) - German-American film producer born in New York, educated there and in Berlin, Germany. Together with his father Heinrich Nebenzahl (d. 1938), Seymour founded film companies and produced many of the classic movies of the Weimar period, including PANDORA'S BOX with Louise Brooks and M with Peter Lorre. In Hollywood Seymour worked as a producer at MGM and his own Nero Films.
Kurt Neumann (1902-1984) - Austrian writer, producer
Kurt Neumann (1906-1958) - German director, producer. Also see the Tarzan Connection.
O
Max Ophüls (Maximilian Oppenheimer, 1902-1957) - German director.
Richard Oswald (Richard Ornstein, 1880-1963) - Austrian director.
P
G.W. Pabst (1885-1967) - German director.
Lilli Palmer (Lillie Marie Peiser, 1914-1986) - German actress.
Maria Perschy (Herta Perschy, 1938-2004) - Austrian actress: Man's Favorite Sport? (1964, with Rock Hudson, Paula Prentiss), Squadron 633 (1964), The Last Day of the War (1967), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971).
Wolfgang Petersen (1941- ) - German director of Air Force One, Das Boot, Shattered, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, The Perfect Storm.
Franz Planer (1894-1963) - Austrian cinematographer - Criss Cross, The Caine Mutiny
Erich Pommer (1889-1966) - German producer.
Franka Potente (1974- ) - German actress (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Identity, Blow, Run Lola Run)
Ingo Preminger (1911- ) - Austrian producer.
Otto Preminger (1906-1986) - Austrian director, actor.
Andre Previn (1929- ) - German-American composer, conductor.
Jürgen Prochnow (circa 1940- ) - German actor.
Liselotte Pulver (1929- ) - Swiss actress: A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), One, Two, Three (1961), A Global Affair (1964).
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Ingo Rademacher (1971- ) - German-born, Australian-raised actor who has appeared in ABC's "General Hospital" soap opera. The 6-foot 2-inch muscular hunk is destined for the big screen. (But he lost out on the lead role in Tarzan and the Lost City that went to Casper Van Dien.)
Luise Rainer (1910- ) German actress, Academy Award winner: The Great Ziegfield (1936) and The Good Earth (1937)
Gottfried Reinhardt (1913-1994) German-American producer and director, who came to the US at the age of 19. The second son of Max Reinhardt (below), Gottfried was born in Berlin but lived in both Germany and the US before he died in Los Angeles in 1994. - Gottfried Reinhardt @ IMDb
Max Reinhardt (Maximilian Goldman, 1873-1943) was more than Germany's greatest theater director. Austrian-born Reinhardt was a mentor to most of the Germanic actors who ended up in Hollywood.
Wolfgang Reinhardt (1908-1979) - German producer, screenwriter, who came to the US in 1934 with his father Max (above). Born in Berlin, Wolfgang produced the two German Trapp family films that would later lead to The Sound of Music phenomenon. He also co-wrote the script for John Huston's Freud (1962). - Wolfgang Reinhardt @ IMDb
Walter Reisch (1903-1983) - Austrian screenwriter, whose scripts include Comrade X (1940), Ninotchka (1940, co-wr.), Gaslight (1947, co-wr.), Niagara (1953, co-wr.), Journey to the center of the Earth (1959, co-wr.).
Leni Riefenstahl (1902- ) - Her Nazi propaganda films, Triumph of the Will and Olympia, are considered classic documentaries.
Hugo Riesenfeld (1879-1939) - Austrian film music composer of the silent era.
Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951) - Austrian composer of light operettas ("The Student Prince") and film scores.
Philip E. Rosen (1888-1951) German director
Grete Rozan (b. 1912 in Vienna) - Austrian actress. In the U.S. Rozan played minor roles, notably in So Ends Our Night (1941) with Erich von Stroheim. She also appeared with Hedy Lamarr in the German film Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. (1931). See WANTED for more information.
Heinz Rühmann (1902-1994) - German actor
Sig Rumann (Siegfried Albon Rumann, 1884-1967) - German character actor in 100+ Hollywood films. Born in Hamburg, Rumann came to the US in 1924. His first film was Royal Box in 1929, his last The Fortune Cookie in 1966.
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S
Felix Salten (1869-1945) - Austrian author of Bambi (1923)
Hans J. Salter (1896-1994) - Austrian film music composer and music director
S.Z. Sakall (Eugene Gero Szakall, 1884-1955) - Austro-Hungarian character actor also known as "Cuddles." See our Casablanca Page for more.
Maria Schell (1926- ) - Austrian-Swiss actress
Maximilian Schell (1930- ) - Austrian-Swiss actor, director
Carl Schenkel - Swiss-German director
Josef Schildkraut (1895-1964) - Austrian actor
Volker Schlöndorff (1939- ) - German director. (The Tin Drum, Palmetto)
Romy Schneider (Rosemarie Magdalena Albach, 1938-1982) - Austrian actress
Eugen Schüfftan (1893-1977) - German-American cinematographer
Reinhold Schünzel (1886-1954) - German actor, director
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- ) - Austrian actor, director, producer
Til Schweiger (1963- ) - German actor, director, and producer who in recent years has appeared in several Hollywood/English-language films, including Lara Croft - The Cradle of Life (2003), Joe and Max (2002, TV movie), Driven (2001, with Sylvester Stallone), and The Replacement Killers (1998). Although he still works in Germany, Schweiger lives in Malibu, California with his American wife Dana and four children. - Watch for more about Til Schweiger coming soon.
Bodo Scriba (1939- ) - German-American producer
Eckart Seeber (1963- ) - Austrian-born (Innsbruck) composer of Hollywood film and television music and a concert pianist. His film work includes the score for Jet Li's Legend of the Red Dragon (1994). WEB > SeeberMusic.com
Xenia Seeberg (1972- ) - German actress born in Geldern am Niederrhein. Seeberg has done mostly TV work in Germany and the U.S. She played Xev Bellringer in the "Lexx" sci-fi series (1997-2002). She supposedly played in two minor theatrical films (2003 release), although her official site does not mention them.
Curt Siodmak (1902-2001) - German screenwriter, director; also see Tarzan.
Robert Siodmak (1900-1973) - Director and brother of Curt Siodmak
Douglas Sirk (Claus Detlef Sierck, 1900- ) - German director
Walter Slezak (1902-1982) - Austrian actor
Elke Sommer (Elke Schletz, 1940- ) - German actress and popular sex symbol of the 1960s and '70s
Hans Sommer (1904- ) - German composer (born in Berlin) who came to Hollywood in 1939
Josef Sommer (1934- ) - German actor
Theodor Sparkuhl (1891-1946) - German director of photography (born in Hanover) whose many Hollywood films include Beau Geste (1939); Sparkuhl is discussed briefly on our Alfred Hitchcock in Germany page.
Sam Spiegel (1903-1985) - Austrian producer
Ueli Steiger (Ulrich Steiger, 1954-) - Swiss-German cinematographer whose Hollywood films include Roland Emmerich's Godzilla (1998) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004). His other films include The Jerky Boys (1995), Soapdish (1991), and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).
Max Steiner (Maximilian Raoul Steiner, 1888-1971) - Austrian-American film music composer. Also on the Casablanca Page.
Josef von Sternberg (1894-1969) - Austrian director often associated with Marlene Dietrich.
Ludwig Stossel (Stössel, 1883-1973) - Austrian actor who appeared in "Casablanca" and other Hollywood productions after 1940.
Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957) - Austrian actor, director
T
Tarzan - Johnny Weissmuller and the Tarzan Connnection
Irving G. Thalberg (1899-1936) - American producer of German-Jewish background. He helped rule MGM for 12 years.
Wilhelm (William) Thiele (1890-1975) - German director. Also on our Tarzan page.
Marcus Thomas (1974- ) - German-Swiss actor who came to the US to study at Lee Strasberg. After a role in the TV series "Beverly Hills 90210" he appeared in Volker Schlöndorff's Palmetto (1998), starred in Cowboy Up (2000, aka Ring of Fire), played Bette Midler's landscaper son in Drowning Mona (2000), and was Carl in the comedy Scorched (2002).
Ernst Toch (1887-1954 ) - Austrian film music composer
Walter Traun - See Kurt Neumann (Austria)
U
Edgar G. Ulmer (1900-1972) - Austrian director known as "King of the Bs."
Rudolf Ulrich (1930- ) - Austrian film historian and author of Austrians in Hollywood (in German).
V
Alida Valli (Alida Maria Altenburger, 1921- ) - Italian actress of Austrian descent. She appeared in the British-American film The Third Man and a few other US productions in the 1940s.
Peter van Eyck (Götz von Eick, 1913-1969) - German actor and musician who left Germany in 1933 and became a U.S. citizen in 1943. Some of his films: The Bridge at Remagen (1969), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Longest Day (1962), Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955), The Desert Fox (1951), Five Graves to Cairo (1943), The Moon Is Down (1943).
Conrad Veidt (1893-1943) - German actor: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, All Through the Night, Casablanca.
Charles Vidor (1900-1959 ) - Hungarian director
Volkswagen, aka "Herbie" - German automotive "actor."
Elfi von Dassanowsky (1924- )
W
Anton Walbrook (Adolf Wohlbrück, 1896-1967) - Austrian actor who made just one movie in Hollywood (The Soldier and the Lady), but also appeared in several British film productions (Gaslight, The Red Shoes). Walbrook's grave lies in the Hampstead cemetery in London.
Warner Brothers - Jack, Harry, Albert, and Sam Warner founded and ran the Hollywood studio that still bears their name.
Franz Waxman (Wachsmann, 1906-1967) - German film music composer
Paul Wegener (1874-1948) - German actor and director (The Golem)
Kurt Weill (1900-1950) - German-American composer
Johnny Weissmuller (1904-1984) was born in Austria-Hungary. The five-time Olympic gold medal swimmer played Tarzan in 12 movies between 1932 and 1948.
Wim Wenders (1945- ) - German film director. Paris, Texas (1984), Wings of Desire (1987).
Oskar Werner (1922-1984) - Austrian actor
Bernhard Wicki (1919- ) - German director, actor
Robert Wiene (1881-1938) - German director
Billy Wilder (1906- ) is the famous Austrian director and screenwriter of Double Indemnity, The Apartment, Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot, and other classic Hollywood films.
Bruce Willis (Bruce Walter Willis, 1955- ) - American actor born in Germany to an American father (David Willis, then in the US military) and a German mother (Marlene). Willis arrived in the US (New Jersey) at the age of two. One of his very first film appearances was in the German TV production Ein Guru kommt (1980). But it was probably his role as the macho detective in the TV series Moonlighting (1985-89) that most propelled his eventual super-star film career.
Robert Wilmot (b. 1902 in Vienna) - Austrian director, screenwriter. In Europe he was known as Robert Wohlmut. His U.S. films (as screenwriter) include The Unwritten Code (1944) and Hollywood and Vine (1945). He also directed Broken Music (1946). Founded Pathescope Production in 1949. In 1951 he became the president of Henry Strauss Productions.
William Wyler (1902-1981) - Swiss-American director
Z
Eric Zeisl (1905-1959) - Austrian-American composer
Renée Zellweger (b. 25 April 1969, Katy, Texas) - Emil Erich Zellweger, Renée's father, comes from the small German-Swiss town of Au in the Rhine Valley of St. Gallen. Her Norwegian mother, Kjelfrid Irene Andreassen, met Renée's father on a ship going to Denmark. Emil was an oil-industry engineer who promised to meet Kjelfrid in Houston, where she had obtained a job as a nurse. They married in Texas where Renée Kathleen Zellweger ("Zelly") and her older brother Andrew ("Drew") were also born, and the rest is history. Films: Jerry Maguire (1996), Nurse Betty (2000), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Chicago (2002), Down with Love (2003), Cold Mountain (2003), Shark Tale (2004, voice), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Cinderella Man (2005).
Wolfgang Zilzer (1901-1991) - German actor aka Paul Andor
Hans Zimmer (1958- ) is the German film music composer (Rain Man, The Lion King, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, and other films)
Fred Zinnemann (1907-1997) - Austrian director: High Noon (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), Oklahoma (1955), The Sundowners (1960), A Man for All Seasons (1966) and other films.
Peter Zinner (1919- ) - Austrian film editor; Acad. Award for The Deer Hunter (1978).
Adolph Zukor (1873-1976) - Founder of the “most European” Hollywood studio - Paramount - lived to be 103!
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