Alfred Abel
Alfred Peter Abel ( born March 12, 1879 in Leipzig, † December 12, 1937 in Berlin) was a German actor, who has worked in over 100 silent films and 38 talkies. Abel is considered one of the most concise stars of the German silent film, who knew by " psychologizing " to make the "inner tension of his character."
Life and work
Abel was the son of a Salesman Louis Abel and his wife Anna Maria Selma. He first attended a forestry teaching and an aborted teaching as a gardener a business education and worked among others as an occasional actor in Mittweida. After studying art drawing at the Leipzig Art Academy, in private acting lessons. His first job at a theater he found in Lucerne, followed by other stations on smaller stages, until he came in 1904 to the German Theatre in Berlin, where he played under Max Reinhardt. In his film A Venetian Night (1913 ), he made his film debut.
He played in over a hundred, and audiences successful films directed by Max Mack, Richard Oswald, Ernst Lubitsch and Fern Andra. Unlike many of his fellow actors to film Abels presentation was characterized by a markedly restrained gestures. These are exemplified by his starring roles in Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Phantom (1922 ) and Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927 ), where he played the haughty ruler Joh Bergersen, his most famous film role. Abel also shot several times in France, and in 1930 Alfred Hitchcock film Mary ( German version of Murder ).
In talkies Abel was long regarded as an actor for elegant roles. He was accordingly occupied with few exceptions. Abel brought four films to direct myself. He tried once as a producer, but his film The strike of Thieves ( 1921) was a failure.
Abel was married to Elizabeth Seidel and had a daughter - Ursula, who was also an actress and in 1935 was banned from performing because they could provide no proof of Aryan descent for her father. Abel was buried in the cemetery military road in Berlin, but his tomb has since been resolved. He was honored with the Order of Arts and Science of Mecklenburg -Strelitz.