Gustav Fröhlich
| Gustav Fröhlich | |
|---|---|
 in 1931 | |
| Born |
21 March 1902 Hannover, Germany |
| Died |
22 December 1987 (aged 85) Lugano, Switzerland |
| Years active | 1922–largely 1956 |
| Spouse(s) |
Gitta Alpar (1931-1935, divorced) (1 child) Maria Hajek (1941-1987, her death) |
Gustav Fröhlich (21 March 1902 – 22 December 1987) was a German actor and film director. He landed secondary roles in a number of films and plays before landing his breakthrough role of Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis. He remained a popular film star in Germany until the 1950s.
Biography
Early life and Weimarer Republic
Gustav Fröhlich was born as an illegitimate child in Hanover, Germany, and was raised by foster parents. Before becoming an actor, he worked shortly as an editor of a provincial newspaper and as the author of trivial novels. During World War I he also volunteered for a duty in occupied Brussels as the press' supervisor.
Gustav Fröhlich began his stage career in the early 1920s at minor theatres in Germany. He quickly achieved more important roles and appeared as The Prince of Homburg at the Deutsche Theater under direction of Max Reinhardt. One of Fröhlich's first film roles was composer Franz Liszt in Paganini in 1922. This was followed by a string of bit parts and supporting roles in film business. He landed his breakthrough role as Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's film epic Metropolis (1927). Although the film itself was a flop, this established him as a leading film star in Germany. he is also notable for his appearance in Asphalt (1929). In 1930 he was called to Hollywood to play roles in German versions of American films such as Die heilige Flamme and Kismet. He often appeared in musicals or comedies as a romantic hero and smart gentlemen.
Third Reich
In 1933, Fröhlich served as the director of Rakoczy-Marsch, a film in which he also portrayed the leading role. He would direct another seven film pictures until the 1950s. He also tried himself as a screenwriter on five movies.
During the Third Reich, Gustav Fröhlich remained one of the foremost male stars in German film (along with Hans Albers, Willy Fritsch and Heinz Rühmann). Between 1931 and 1935, Fröhlich was married to Hungarian opera star, and actress Gitta Alpár, with whom he had a child, Julika. He was engaged to the actress Lida Baarova until she became involved with the Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. There is also an unconfirmed story that Fröhlich slapped Goebbels in a fit of jealous rage.[1] In 1937, he rented his house in Berchtesgaden to Hitler's architect, Albert Speer. In 1941 he married Maria Hajek; they remained married until her death in 1987. In the same year he served the Wehrmacht Landschützen-Regiment.
Later life
Gustav Fröhlich was seldom involved in Nazi Propaganda films, a fact that helped him to the establish a new film career after the World War II. He remained a busy actor after the war but his roles changed from leading roles to supporting parts as he got older. His best-known role during this time was perhaps in Die Sünderin (1951) with Hildegard Knef, where Fröhlich portrayed a terminally ill painter. Die Sünderin caused a scandal because of its open threatment with several taboos like nudity, suicide and euthanasia.
Fröhlich widely retired from the film business in 1956, but he still managed to make occasional film and television appearances until the early 1980s. In 1973, he received the German Film Award for Lifetime Achievements. From 1956 Fröhlich lived in Lugano, Switzerland, where he died in 1987, of complication from surgery.
Filmography
- De bruut (1922)
- Der Weg zum Licht (1923)
- Paganini (1923)
- The Woman Who Did (1925)
- Friesenblut (1925)
- Schiff in Not (1925)
- Die Frau die nicht nein sagen kann (1926)
- Metropolis (1927)
- The Master of Nuremberg (1927)
- Light-Hearted Isabel (1927)
- Die Elf Teufel (1927)
- Gehetzte Frauen (1927)
- Jahrmarkt des Lebens (1927)
- Jugendrausch (1927)
- Tough Guys, Easy Girls (1927)
- Homecoming (1928)
- Angst (1928)
- The Duty to Remain Silent (1928)
- The Green Alley (1928)
- Hurrah! I Live! (1928)
- Eva und der Grashüpfer (1928)
- Asphalt (1929)
- The Burning Heart (1929)
- High Treason (1929)
- Zwei Menschen (1930)
- Brand in der Oper (1930)
- Der Unsterbliche Lump (1930)
- II Kismet (1930)
- Liebeslied (1930)
- Die Heilige Flamme (1931)
- Die Verliebte Firma (1931)
- Gloria (1931)
- Liebeskommando (1931)
- Sang viennois (1931)
- My Leopold (1931)
- A Waltz by Strauss (1931)
- Inquest (1931)
- Ein Lied, ein Kuß, ein Mädel (1932)
- Gitta entdeckt ihr Herz (1932)
- Ich will nicht wissen, wer du bist (1932)
- A Man with Heart (1932)
- Mein Leopold (1932)
- Unter falscher Flagge (1932)
- The Racokzi March (1933, also directed)[2]
- Die Nacht der großen Liebe (1933)
- Gardez le sourire (1933)
- Rund um eine Million (1933)
- Sonnenstrahl (1933)
- What Women Dream (1933)
- Abenteuer eines jungen Herrn in Polen (1934, also directed)
- Der Flüchtling von Chicago (1934)
- Sergeant Schwenke (1934)
- Barcarole (1935)
- Es flüstert die Liebe (1935)
- Leutnant Bobby, der Teufelskerl (1935)
- Liebesleute (1935)
- Nacht der Verwandlung (1935)
- Stradivari (1935)
- Die Entführung (1936)
- Die Stunde der Versuchung (1936)
- Inkognito (1936)
- The Impossible Woman (1936)
- City of Anatol (1936)
- Alarm in Peking (1937)
- Gabriele: eins, zwei, drei (1937)
- Gleisdreieck (1937)
- The Great and the Little Love (1938)
- Frau Sixta (1938)
- In geheimer Mission (1938)
- Adieu Vienne (1939)
- Alarm auf Station III (1939)
- Renate in the Quartet (1939)
- Alles Schwindel (1940)
- Herz - modern möbliert (1940)
- Herz geht vor Anker (1940)
- Ihr Privatsekretär (1940)
- Clarissa (1941)
- Sechs Tage Heimaturlaub (1941)
- Der Große König (1942)
- Mit den Augen einer Frau (1942)
- Tolle Nacht (1943)
- Der Große Preis (1944)
- The Buchholz Family (1944)
- Das Konzert (1944)
- Neigungsehe (1944)
- Wege im Zwielicht (1945, only director)
- Sag' die Wahrheit (1946)
- Das Verlorene Gesicht (1948)
- Eine Alltägliche Geschichte (1948)
- Wege im Zwielicht (1948, also director)
- Diese Nacht vergess ich nie (1949)
- Der Große Fall (1949)
- Der Bagnosträfling (1949, only director)
- Dieser Mann gehört mir (1950)
- Die Lüge (1950, only director)
- Die Sünderin (1951)
- Stips (1951)
- Torreani (1951, also directed)
- Abenteuer in Wien (1952)
- Haus des Lebens (1952)
- Ehe für eine Nacht (1953)
- Von Liebe reden wir später (1953)
- Ball der Nationen (1954)
- Die Kleine Stadt will schlafen gehen (1954)
- Rosen aus dem Süden (1954)
- His Daughter is Called Peter (1955, only director)
- Der Erste Frühlingstag (1956)
- Vergiß wenn Du kannst (1956)
- Sag nicht addio (1956)
- Das gab's nur einmal (1958)
- …und keiner schämte sich (1960)
- Das Kriminalmuseum (TV series, 1963)
- Die Dubarry (TV movie, 1963)
- Laubenkolonie (TV movie, 1968)
- Schicht in Weiß (TV series, 1980)
- Pommi Stern (TV movie, 1981)
References
External links
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