Adolf Anton Wilhelm Wohlbrück (19 November 18969 August 1967) was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom under the name Anton Walbrook. A popular performer in Austria and pre-war Germany, he left Germany in 1936 out of concerns for his own safety and established a career in British cinema. Walbrook is perhaps best known for his roles in the original British film of Gaslight, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes and Victoria the Great (as Prince Albert).
Early life
Walbrook was born in Vienna, Austria, as Adolf Wohlbrück. He was the son of Gisela Rosa (Cohn) and Adolf Ferdinand Bernhard Hermann Wohlbrück. He was descended from ten generations of actors, though his father broke with tradition and was a circus clown. He attended a monastery school and considered becoming a monk, but eventually decided to become an actor.
Career
After the war, Wohlbrück built up a career in German theatre and cinema, with the support of his friend Hermine Körner. In the 1930s he was one of Germany's most popular actors. However, as the Nazis came to power, Wohlbrück realized that he could not stay in Germany for long, as he risked being persecuted by the Nazis due to his Jewish mother and his homosexuality. When Nazi Germany absorbed Austria in the 1938 Anschluss, the Austrian option was taken off the table as well.
In 1936, Wohlbrück went to Hollywood to reshoot dialogue for the 1937 multinational The Soldier and the Lady, in which he portrayed the Jules Verne hero Michael Strogoff, and changed his name from Adolf Wohlbrück to Anton Walbrook. He moved to London in 1937, settling down in an area with many German-speaking emigres. One of his neighbours was director Emeric Pressburger, who later cast him in some of his most famous roles. He played Otto in the first London production of Design for Living at the Haymarket Theatre in January 1939 (later transferring to the Savoy Theatre), and running for 233 performances, opposite Diana Wynyard as Gilda and Rex Harrison as Leo. In 1952 he appeared at the Coliseum as Cosmo Constantine in Call Me Madam, also participating alongside Billie Worth, Jeff Warren and Shani Wallis on the EMI cast recording. Producer-director Herbert Wilcox cast him as Prince Albert in Victoria the Great (1937) and its sequel Sixty Glorious Years (1938). In Dangerous Moonlight (1941), a romantic melodrama, he was a Polish pianist torn over whether to return home.
Thorold Dickinson cast Walbrook in Gaslight (1940), in the role played by Charles Boyer in the later Hollywood remake. One of Walbrook's most unusual films was Dickinson's The Queen of Spades (1949), a Gothic thriller based on the Alexander Pushkin short story, in which he co-starred with Edith Evans.
In 1941 Walbrook began collaborating with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, for which he is now best remembered. In 49th Parallel (1941) he played a leader of a Hutterite community in Canada. In The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) he played the role of the dashing, intense military officer Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, a sympathetic German refugee from the Nazi regime. He also portrayed the tyrannical ballet impresario Lermontov in The Red Shoes (1948). His Red Shoes co-star Moira Shearer recalled Walbrook was a loner on set, often wearing dark glasses, as in his character costume in the film, and eating alone.
After the war, he worked in some continental productions, working with Max Ophüls as the ringmaster in La Ronde (1950) and Ludwig I, King of Bavaria in Lola Montès. His ashes were interred in the churchyard of St. John's Church, Hampstead, London, as he had wished in his will. He is buried with his partner Eugene Edwards, a London florist, although Edwards' name is not on the tombstone.
A biography of Walbrook, penned by James Downs, was published in 2020. Ralph Fiennes, who played the dandyish hotel concierge Gustave H. in Anderson's film The Grand Budapest Hotel, said that Anderson asked him to study Walbrook's work in The Red Shoes to prepare for his performance. In addition, Gustave's mustache is based on Walbrook's.
Filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Language
! Director
! class = "unsortable"|Notes
|-
| 1915
| Marionetten
| Zirkusdirektor
|
| Richard Löwenbein
|
|-
| 1923
| Martin Luther
|
| Silent
| Karl Wüstenhagen
|
|-
| 1924
| Mater dolorosa
|
| Silent
| Joseph Delmont
|
|-
| 1925
| The Secret of Castle Elmshoh
| Axel
| Silent
| Max Obal
|
|-
| 1931
| Salto Mortale
| Robby
| German
| E. A. Dupont
|
|-
|rowspan=5|1932
| The Pride of Company Three<!--4 January 1932-->
| Prinz Willibald
| German
| Fred Sauer
|
|-
| Three from the Unemployment Office<!--24 February 1932-->
| Max Binder
| German
| Eugen Thiele
|
|-
| The Five Accursed Gentlemen<!--23 March 1932-->
| Petersen
| German
| Julien Duvivier
| German-language version of a French film
|-
| Melody of Love<!--25 April 1932-->
| Kapellmeister
| German
| Georg Jacoby
|
|-
| Baby<!--23 December 1932-->
| Lord Cecil
| German
| Karel Lamač
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1933
| Waltz War<!--4 October 1933-->
| Johann Strauss
| German
| Ludwig Berger
|
|-
| '<!--12 December 1933-->
| Helmut Höfert
| German
| Hans Steinhoff
|
|-
| Victor and Victoria<!--23 December 1933-->
| rowspan=2|Robert
| German
| Reinhold Schünzel
|
|-
|rowspan=5|1934
| George and Georgette<!--2 February 1934-->
| French
| Reinhold Schünzel, <br> Roger Le Bon
| French-language version of Victor and Victoria
|-
| The Switched Bride <!--17 April 1934-->
| Charles
| German
| Karel Lamač
|
|-
| Maskerade<!--21 August 1934-->
| Ferdinand von Heideneck
| German
| Willi Forst
|
|-
| A Woman Who Knows What She Wants<!--31 August 1934-->
| Axel Basse
| German
| Victor Janson
|
|-
|The English Marriage<!--31 October 1934-->
| Warwick Brent
| German
| Reinhold Schünzel
|
|-
|rowspan=5|1935
| Regine<!--7 January 1935-->
| Frank Reynold
| German
| Erich Waschneck
|
|-
| The Gypsy Baron<!--17 April 1935-->
| Sandor Barinkay
| German
| Karl Hartl
|
|-
| Le Baron tzigane<!--5 June 1935-->
| Sandor Barinkay
| French
| Karl Hartl, <br> Henri Chomette
| French-language version of The Gypsy Baron
|-
| I Was Jack Mortimer<!--17 October 1935-->
| Fred Sponer
| German
| Carl Froelich
|
|-
| The Student of Prague<!--10 December 1935-->
| Balduin
| German
| Arthur Robison
|
|-
|rowspan=5|1936
| The Czar's Courier <!--7 February 1936-->
| rowspan=2|Michael Strogoff
| German
| Richard Eichberg
|
|-
| Michel Strogoff<!--10 March 1936-->
| French
| Richard Eichberg, <br> Jacques de Baroncelli
| French-language version of The Czar's Courier
|-
| Tomfoolery<!--12 June 1936-->
| Philip
| German
| Willi Forst
|
|-
| Port Arthur
| rowspan=2|Boris Ranewsky
| French
| Nicolas Farkas
|
|-
| Port Arthur
| German
| Nicolas Farkas
| German-language version of Port Arthur
|-
|rowspan=3|1937
| The Soldier and the Lady<!--9 April 1937-->
| Michael Strogoff
| English
| George Nicholls Jr.
| Remake of The Czar's Courier
|-
| Victoria the Great<!--16 September 1937-->
| Prince Albert
| English
| Herbert Wilcox
|
|-
| The Rat<!--10 November 1937-->
| Jean Boucheron
| English
| Jack Raymond
|
|-
| 1938
| Sixty Glorious Years<!--16 September 1937-->
| Prince Albert
| English
| Herbert Wilcox
|
|-
| 1940
| Gaslight
| Paul Mallen/Louis Bauer
| English
| Thorold Dickinson
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1941
| Dangerous Moonlight<!--26 June 1941-->
| Stefan Radetzky
| English
| Brian Desmond Hurst
|
|-
| 49th Parallel<!--8 October 1941-->
| Peter
| English
| Powell and Pressburger
|
|-
| 1943
| The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
| Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff
| English
| Powell and Pressburger
|
|-
| 1945
| The Man from Morocco
| Karel Langer
| English
| Mutz Greenbaum
|
|-
| 1948
| The Red Shoes
| Boris Lermontov
| English
| Powell and Pressburger
|
|-
| 1949
| The Queen of Spades
| Capt. Herman Suvorin
| English
| Thorold Dickinson
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1950
| La Ronde
| Master of Ceremonies
| French
| Max Ophüls
|
|-
| King for One Night
| Graf von Lerchenbach
| German
| Paul May
|
|-
| 1951
| Vienna Waltzes
| Johann Strauss
| German
| Emil-Edwin Reinert
|
|-
| 1952
| Le Plaisir
| Narrator, German version
|
| Max Ophüls
| Uncredited
|-
| 1954
| On Trial (L'affaire Maurizius)
| Grégoire Waremme
| French
| Julien Duvivier
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1955
| Oh... Rosalinda!!<!--18 November 1955-->
| Dr. Falke
| English
| Powell and Pressburger
|
|-
| Lola Montès<!--22 December 1955-->
| King Ludwig I of Bavaria
| French
| Max Ophüls
|
|-
| 1957
| Saint Joan
| Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais
| English
| Otto Preminger
|
|-
| 1958
| I Accuse!
| Major Esterhazy
| English
| José Ferrer
|
|}
Television (West Germany)
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! TV Show
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1960
| '
| The Duke of Altair
| based on Venus Observed
|-
| 1962
| '
| Waldo Lydecker
| based on Laura
|-
| 1963
| '
| Sir Colenso Ridgeon
| based on The Doctor's Dilemma
|-
| 1966
| Robert and Elisabeth
| Edward Moulton-Barrett
| based on Robert and Elizabeth (final film role)
|}
See also
References
Citations
General sources
- Moor, Andrew, Dangerous Limelight: Anton Walbrook and the Seduction of the English (2001)
- Anton Walbrook. A Life of Masks and Mirrors by James Downs (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2020)
External links
- . Biography & filmography
- Photographs of Anton Walbrook