Conrad Veidt

Born: 1893-01-22

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as Different from the Others (1919), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and The Man Who Laughs (1928). After a successful career in German silent film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of Ufa, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the Nazis came to power. They settled in Britain, where he participated in a number of films, including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), before emigrating to the United States around 1941, which lead to him having a supporting role in Casablanca (1942). From 1916 until his death, Veidt appeared in more than 100 films. One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), a classic of German Expressionist cinema, with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover. His starring role in The Man Who Laughs (1928), as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin, provided the (visual) inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker, created in 1940 by Bill Finger. Veidt also starred in other silent horror films such as The Hands of Orlac (1924), another film directed by Robert Wiene, The Student of Prague (1926) and Waxworks (1924) where he played Ivan the Terrible. Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfeld's film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919), one of the first films to sympathetically portray homosexuality, although the characters in it do not end up happily. He had a leading role in Germany's first talking picture, Das Land ohne Frauen (Land Without Women, 1929). He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and made a few films, but the advent of talking pictures and his difficulty with speaking English led him to return to Germany. During this period he lent his expertise to tutoring aspiring performers, one of whom was the later American character actress Lisa Golm.


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Casablanca

as Major Heinrich Strasser
Released: 1943-01-15

In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover,...

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The Hands of Orlac

as Paul Orlac
Released: 1924-09-24

A world-famous pianist loses both hands in an accident. When new hands are grafted on, he is...

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The Thief of Bagdad

as Jaffar
Released: 1940-12-25

When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces...

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

as Cesare
Released: 1920-02-27

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane...

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Above Suspicion

as Hassert Seidel
Released: 1943-05-31

Two newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe.

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The Man Who Laughs

as Gwynplaine / Lord Clancharlie
Released: 1928-04-27

Gwynplaine, son of Lord Clancharlie, has a permanent smile carved on his face by the King, in...

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Lady Hamilton

as Lord Nelson
Released: 1921-10-19

The married Lady Emma Hamilton has an ill fated romance with Admiral Horatio Nelson.

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Universal Horror

as (archive footage)
Released: 1998-10-08

A documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during...

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A Woman's Face

as Torsten Barring
Released: 1941-05-09

A female blackmailer with a disfiguring facial scar meets a plastic surgeon who offers her the...

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Escape

as General Kurt von Kolb
Released: 1940-11-01

An American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration...

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Lucrezia Borgia

as Cesare Borgia
Released: 1922-10-20

Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a...

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Contraband

as Capt. Andersen
Released: 1940-05-11

When a neutral Danish merchant ship is forced to put into port after trying to evade British...

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A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound

as Self
Released: 1940-10-24

This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes...

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Different from the Others

as Paul Körner
Released: 1919-05-28

Conrad Veidt plays a famous musician who is blackmailed for being gay. Eventually he stands...

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All Through the Night

as Franz Ebbing
Released: 1942-01-10

Broadway gamblers stumble across a plan by Nazi saboteurs to blow up an American battleship.

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The Spy in Black

as Captain Ernst Hardt
Released: 1939-08-03

A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.

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Die Liebschaften des Hektor Dalmore

as Hektor Dalmore
Released: 1921-02-22

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Dark Journey

as Baron Karl Von Marwitz
Released: 1937-07-02

Madeline Goddard, is a British double agent who meets and falls in love with a German spy Baron...

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Rome Express

as Zurta
Released: 1932-10-31

The theft of a famous painting leads to murder and many suspects on a plush train speeding from...

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The Many Faces of Dracula

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2000-01-01

Hosted by Christopher Lee, this documentary examines the different actors who have portrayed...

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Jew Süss

as Josef 'Jew Süss' Oppenheimer
Released: 1934-10-13

A historical satire critical of the rising tide of Anti-Semitism in Germany. Based on the novel...

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Under the Red Robe

as Gil de Berault
Released: 1937-05-31

In 1620s France, dreaded swordsman Gil de Berault returns from carrying out a mission for...

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The Ingmar Inheritance

as Hellgum
Released: 1925-12-26

"The Ingmar Inheritance". The story of a group of farmers who choose to leave their homes and...

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Nazi Agent

as Otto Becker / Baron Hugo von Detner
Released: 1942-03-01

Humble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he...

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Rasputin, Demon of the Women

as Grigori Rasputin
Released: 1932-02-19

The demonic Rasputin is poisoned but survives to continue seducing in evil ways, in this...

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Whistling in the Dark

as Joseph Jones
Released: 1941-08-08

The operators of 'Silver Haven', a cultish group bilking gullible rich people out of money, is...

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Prostitution II

as Alfred Werner
Released: 1919-08-29

About a deceptive bourgeois couple that blends their acquaintances into their dubious business.

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Waxworks

as Ivan the Terrible
Released: 1924-11-13

A poet is hired by the owner of a wax museum in a circus to write tales about Harun al Raschid,...

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The Student of Prague

as Balduin, Student
Released: 1926-10-19

For Balduin, going out to beer parties with his fellow students and fighting out disputes at the...

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The Only Girl

as Marquis de Pontignac
Released: 1933-02-22

A dashing marquis bends from his horse when he discovers a lost garter in the woods and falls....

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Eerie Tales

as Der Tod / Various Other Roles
Released: 1919-11-05

After the old-books shop closes, portraits of the Strumpet, Death, and the Devil come to life...

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The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yogi

as Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Released: 1921-10-22

Ayan, Maharajah of Eschnapur, believes that his wife, Princess Savitri, has been unfaithful to...

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The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Bengal

as Ayan, Majarajah of Eschnapur
Released: 1921-11-19

Rowland falls sick with leprosy while Mac Allan is captured by the Maharajah, who offers Irene a...

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Figures of the Night

as The clown
Released: 1920-01-09

"Night people". Thomas Bezug, the richest man in the world, is a solitary, domineering and cruel...

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The Last Performance

as Erik the Great
Released: 1929-10-13

A middle-aged magician is in love with his beautiful young assistant. She, on the other hand, is...

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The Film in the Film

as Himself
Released: 1924-06-26

The only surviving excerpt of a documentary on film production in Weimar Germany, featuring the...

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Opium

as Dr. Richard Armstrong Jr.
Released: 1919-01-07

In China, Professor Gesellius has completed his long research on the many uses of opium. When he...

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Husbands or Lovers

as Der Liebhaber, ein Dichter
Released: 1924-11-21

A wife, bored by her overweight slob of a husband, gives in to the temptation of a slickly...

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Der Reigen - Ein Werdegang

as Petre Karvan
Released: 1920-02-27

Drama about street walker Elena who marries shop keeper Albert. When her former pimp Peter shows...

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The Head of Janus

as Dr. Warren
Released: 1920-08-26

The film was an unauthorized adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel The Strange Case of...

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Bella Donna

as Mahmoud Baroudi
Released: 1934-12-11

That old theatrical war-horse Bella Donna (previously filmed in America by Alla Nazimova) was...

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Prostitution

as Alfred Werner
Released: 1919-03-19

Hedwig and Lola, two sisters of opposite temperaments, have their lives upended in when Lola...

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Prinz Kuckuck

as Carl Kraker
Released: 1919-09-24

The niece and nephew of an eccentric millionaire try to get a share of the now deceased...

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Colomba

as uncredited
Released: 1918-11-08

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Fear

as Indian Priest
Released: 1917-03-06

A millionaire steals an ancient idol causing some natives call upon him a terrible curse.

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Don Carlos und Elisabeth

as Don Carlos
Released: 1924-02-24

Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne, and Princess Elisabeth of Valois are deeply in love but...

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F.P.1

as Maj. Ellissen
Released: 1933-04-02

Urged by famous airman Ellissen the Lennartz Company puts into reality the project proposed by...

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The Man Who Committed the Murder

as Oberst Marquis de Sévigné
Released: 1931-01-23

The story is about Conrad Veidt as military attache in Turkey where he learns to know an English...

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The Wandering Jew

as Matathias / The Unknown Knight / Dr Matteos Battadios
Released: 1933-11-15

Old Jerusalem: Matathias, spiteful over his lover's illness, spits on Jesus along the road to...

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Paganini

as Niccolo Paganini
Released: 1923-03-31

Historical film about Italian musician Niccolo Paganini.

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Wilhelm Tell

as Hermann Gessler
Released: 1923-08-22

William Tell (German: Wilhelm Tell) is a 1923 German silent adventure film directed by Rudolf...

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The Beloved Rogue

as King Louis XI
Released: 1927-03-12

François Villon, in his lifetime the most renowned poet in France, is also a prankster, an...

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Tempête sur l'Asie

as Erich Keith
Released: 1938-04-20

An adventurer tries to seize oil deposits in Mongolia .

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Christian Wahnschaffe I: Weltbrand

as Christian Wahnschaffe
Released: 1920-11-12

Weltbrand is the first part of the two-part silent movie Christian Wahnschaffe.

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I Was A Spy

as Commandant Oberaertz
Released: 1933-09-04

During World War I, a young nurse in a hospital in German-occupied Belgium is secretly feeding...

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Christian Wahnschaffe II: Escape from the Golden Dungeon

as Christian Wahnschaffe
Released: 1921-03-30

Escape from the Golden Dungeon is the second part of the two-part silent movie Christian...

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The Congress Dances

as Fürst Metternich
Released: 1931-09-29

Vienna glove-sales-lady Christel falls in love with Russian Czar Alexander. Austrian Prince...

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The Last Company

as Hauptmann Burk
Released: 1930-03-14

13 German soldiers have to fight off a French regiment.

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The Other Side

as Hauptmann Stanhope
Released: 1931-10-29

The First World War. The young, English Lieutenant Raleigh is sent to the company of a...

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The Count of Cagliostro

as Minister
Released: 1920-12-21

About a lurid tale of magic and secret societies during the reign of Luis XVI, focused on the...

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The Men in Her Life

as Stanislas Rosing
Released: 1941-10-30

A circus performer becomes a ballerina and then begins her life of a career versus marriage and...

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The Great Longing

as Himself
Released: 1930-08-24

During lunch break at the movie studio, the extras rush to the canteen Hans Adalbert Schlettow,...

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Laws of Love: Innocently Outlawed!

as uncredited
Released: 1927-11-16

A documentary by Magnus Hirschfeld, which contains a shortened version of Different From the...

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The Love Storm

as Kingsley
Released: 1930-11-21

This is the German-language version of the British film The Love Storm (1931).

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Should We Be Silent?

as Paul Hartwig, Maler
Released: 1926-04-05

A melodrama about a painter who is infected with syphilis, refuses treatment, turns to the use...

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Impetuous Youth

as Renées Vater
Released: 1926-03-10

Girl dressed up as a boy falls in love with a painter.

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Das Dreimäderlhaus

as uncredited
Released: 1918-09-22

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Desire

as Ivan
Released: 1921-02-01

Ivan, a poor Russian student, lives in Switzerland. He is unexpectedly invited to Russia by a...

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Around the World in 80 Days

as Phineas Fogg
Released: 1919-03-20

Wealthy Englishman Phileas Fogg bets his friends that he can travel around the world in 80 days.

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Diary of a Lost Woman

as Dr. Julius
Released: 1918-10-29

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Moriturus

as Wilmos, sanatorium director
Released: 1920-09-23

A doctor who cannot figure out what is wrong with his patient refers him to a detective, whom he...

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Landstraße und Großstadt

as Raphael, der Geiger
Released: 1921-04-22

Two poor musicians rise from rags to riches. Money, fame and their love for the same woman begin...

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A Man's Past

as Paul La Roche
Released: 1927-10-01

A Man's Past (1927)

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The Passing of the Third Floor Back

as The Stranger
Released: 1935-09-01

The tenants of an old London boarding house spend their time in petty bickering and sniping...

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Congress Dances

as Prince Metternich
Released: 1931-12-03

In 1815, Tsar Alexander I romances a working-class glove seller, while his double takes his...

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Journey into the Night

as Der Maler
Released: 1921-01-21

Dr. Egil Börne, an eminent physician, comes under the spell of an unscrupulous cabaret dancer...

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The Story of Dida Ibsen

as Erik Norrensen
Released: 1918-12-12

Dida Ibsen, daughter of impoverished farmers, has, according to her father's will, to marry the...

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Liebe macht blind

as uncredited
Released: 1926-08-16

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Das Land ohne Frauen

as Dick Ashton
Released: 1929-09-30

A group of 413 women answer an ad looking for British women to sail to and marry miners in...

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Le Comte Kostia

as Comte Kostia
Released: 1925-05-29

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King of the Damned

as Convict 83
Released: 1935-12-31

Revolt on a prison island is a parable of workers revolution. A cruel and repressive penal...

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Evening - Night - Morning

as Brilburn - Maud's brother
Released: 1920-09-24

Cheston, a millionaire, is looking after Maud, a beautiful woman from the 'demimonde'. Her...

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The Flight in the Night

as Count di Nolli, Heinrich IV
Released: 1926-12-13

Based on the play Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello. Conrad Veidt plays Count di Nolli, a nobleman...

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The Wife's Crusade

as Der Staatsanwalt
Released: 1926-01-02

Directed by Martin Berger.

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Der Weg des Todes

as uncredited
Released: 1917-02-01

A countess decides to get rid of a nosy stranger by luring him into a castle dungeon.

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Das Geheimnis von Bombay

as Tossi
Released: 1921-01-06

Gabriela Farnese, a famous singer, visits Bombay to find her mysterious doppelganger, the dancer...

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Not of the Woman Born

as Satan
Released: 1918-10-01

This film is believed to be lost.

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