Rudolph Schildkraut
Rudolph Schildkraut (* April 27, 1862 in Istanbul, † July 15, 1930 in Los Angeles ) was an American film and theater actor of Austrian descent.
Life
Born to a Jewish hoteliers In the Ottoman Empire, he grew up in Braila, Romania. In Vienna he was acting with Frederick Mitterwurzer. He made his debut at the beginning of the 1880s in Sopron, he received his first firm commitment 1885 in Krems on the Danube.
In 1893 he went to Vienna to take up an engagement at the newly opened Raimund Theater. In 1898 he moved to the Carl Theater. Among other things, he played the worm in Intrigue and Love. In 1900 he got to the German Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, 1905 at the German Theatre in Berlin. He was one of the main actors in the ensemble of Max Reinhardt. His Shylock, which he represented in Reinhardt's productions in 1905 and 1913 by The Merchant of Venice, Fritz Kortner praised as a " monument to the art of acting ." Other important roles, the title role in King Lear (1908), Mephistopheles in Faust I (1909 ), Muley Hassan in The Conspiracy Fiesco (1909 ), gravedigger in Hamlet (1909 ) and Peter Bast were in Knut Hamsun brought by the devil ( 1914). In 1910/11 guested Schildkraut for the first time in the USA.
As a film actor, he became known in the German Empire at the beginning of the silent film era. He starred in several film dramas. His first film was The Shylock of Kraków, his last German-speaking film was a biography of Zionism founder Theodor Herzl, in the herb Schildt " The wrestling Israel " embodied.
In 1920 he emigrated permanently to America and made his debut the same year in New York City in the play Silent Forces. From 1922 he also played in English. In 1925 he founded his own Jewish theater in New York.
In his last five years, he starred in several Hollywood productions. His most famous film that would make him famous in America, was king of the kings of Cecil B. DeMille from 1927, in which he embodied the high priest Caiaphas.
He was married to Erna Weinstein, with whom he had a son, Joseph (1896-1964), who was also known as an actor.
Rudolph Schildkraut died at the age of 67 of a heart attack. His son died in the same age also a heart attack.