Oskar Karlweis
Oskar Karl Weis ( born June 10, 1894 in Hinterbrühl, Austria - Hungary, † 24 January 1956 in New York, United States) was an Austrian actor.
Life
The son of the playwright Carl Karl Weis (1850-1901) abandoned his law studies begun soon and devoted himself to a career as an actor. He received his first appointment in 1912 at the Municipal Theatre in Vienna, where he eight years - should remain faithful - interrupted by his participation in the First World War. 1919 brought him to the Max Reinhardt Theater in der Josefstadt. After that, he appeared primarily at various stages Munich. He played in 1921 in the world premiere of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's The Difficult to Stani Buhl. 1923 returned Karlweis back to Vienna, where he performed at the intimate theater and the Carl Theater. In 1927 he went to the German Theatre in Berlin and at other stages. Even with the then-unknown Marlene Dietrich, he met. It was at this time a very popular charming actor who knew how to convince as dancers and singers, such as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.
Between 1930 and 1933 he also worked as a film actor. He played the most famous role as Kurt with Willy Fritsch and Heinz Rühmann in the movie The Three out of the gas station, where he tried in vain to win the favor of Lilian Harvey.
After coming to power of the Nazis in 1933, he returned to Vienna, where he successfully continued playing in the theater in the Josefstadt again as a Jew. After the connection of Austria in 1938, he emigrated with Karl Farkas via Switzerland to Paris, where she also appeared together.
But in 1940 he had to flee again, together with Torberg. They came to Spain and Portugal in the United States. Torberg praised later Karlweis with the words:
In the United States Karlweis first had to learn English, because he did not understand a word here. But together with Farkas, Hermann Leopoldi he also appeared in German events for the emigrants. As a performer of fleeing from the Nazis Jews in Franz Werfel's Me and the Colonel on Broadway in 1944, he celebrated triumphs.
1948 returned Karlweis for the first time to Vienna and was able to build on its previous successes on the Vienna stage. Karl Weis was a busy stage actor from New York, Vienna and Berlin.
Oskar Karl Weis, married to the film producer Ninon Tallon (1908-1977), died in 1956 at the age of 61 of a heart attack in New York. He is buried in the family grave in the Protestant cemetery Vienna Matzleinsdorf (Group 18, Number 12).