Willy Prager
Willy Prager, Willi Prague, (* May 23, 1877 in Katowice, Silesia, † March 4, 1956 in Berlin- Hallensee ) was a German actor, director, comedian, librettist and screenwriter.
Life
A native of Upper Silesians began his career in 1898 at the Berlin variety ' Quargs '. This was followed from 1909 to obligations metropolitan cabarets such as Rudolf Nelson's ' Chat Noir ' and the ' Linden - Cabaret '. Even before the First World War could Prague also on regular surgery stages of capital (eg at the Hebbel Theater and at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater, where he also works as a director ) to see. Under Reinhardt Director, he played alone in 1912 such diverse roles as the bald belly in Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening, Polonius in Hamlet, the treasurer in Faust and Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing. In the same year Wedekind staged with Prague in the role of Krenzl a performance of his own work The Marquis of Keith. Since 1925, Willy Prager worked at the cabaret Schall und Rauch, made a name for himself as a comedian and Coupletsänger and wrote besides several operetta libretti (for example, to Ralph Benatzky Love the snow and the little sinner, The Princess of the Nile and the Revue at all ).
Since his debut under Reinhardt's director (as Triton, one of the gods, in the island of the blessed ) Prague also occurred sporadically before the camera. At the beginning of the sound film, he participated in several comedy screenplays. With the government takeover by the Nazis in 1933, the not reliable now derided as politically Prague came into the crosshairs of the Nazi rulers and was immediately occupied by stage ban, which ended only when the war ended in 1945. These years spent the ostracized Jewish entertainers mostly underground. After Prague returned to the theater back (for example, Berlin The Tribune ) and film roles before the camera.