Felix Bressart | |
|---|---|
 Bressart with James Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner (1940) | |
| Born | Solomon Breslau March 2, 1892 Eydtkuhnen, East Prussia, Germany |
| Died | March 17, 1949 (aged 57) Los Angeles, California, U.S. [1] |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1928–1949 |
| Spouse | Frieda Lehner (1925–1949, his death) |
Felix Bressart (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1949) was a German-born actor of stage and screen whose career spanned both Europe and Hollywood.
Bressart (pronounced "BRESS-ert") was born in Eydtkuhnen, East Prussia, Germany (now in Nesterovsky District, Russia).[1]
Bressart’s acting debut came in 1914 as Malvolio in "Twelfth Night," and he went on to act in Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.[2][1] He was an experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1927. He began as a supporting actor, for example as the bailiff in the boxoffice hit Die Drei von der Tankstelle (The Three from the Filling Station), but soon established himself in leading roles of minor movies. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the Jewish Bressart left Germany and continued his career in German-speaking movies in Austria, where Jewish artists were still relatively safe. After acting in 40 German films, he emigrated to the United States in 1936.[1]
One of Bressart's former European colleagues was Joe Pasternak, who had become a successful producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Bressart's first American film was Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), a vehicle for the Universal Pictures' star, Deanna Durbin. Pasternak chose Bressart to perform in a screen test opposite Pasternak's newest discovery, Gloria Jean. The German community in Hollywood helped to establish Bressart in America, as his earliest American movies were directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Henry Koster, and Wilhelm Thiele (who had directed Bressart in The Three from the Filling Station).[citation needed]
At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bressart appeared in Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939), as one of the Soviet emissaries followed by Greta Garbo to Paris. MGM signed Bressart to a contract, where most of work consisted of featured supporting roles in major films including Edison, the Man, Comrade X, and Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner, all released in 1940.[citation needed]
In Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942), he recites Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from The Merchant of Venice.
Other films Bressart appeared in for MGM include Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Three Hearts for Julia (1943), The Seventh Cross (1944), and Without Love (1945).
Bressart left MGM in 1945 to work for other studios. His first freelance job featured his largest role; he co-starred in the RKO "B" musical comedy Ding Dong Williams, filmed in April 1945. Bressart, billed third, played the bemused supervisor of a movie studio's music department, and appeared in formal wear to conduct an orchestral version of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu. Bressart received special mention for his performance in this low-budget feature.[3]
In all, Bressart appeared in almost 40 Hollywood pictures.
Bressart suddenly died of leukemia at the age of 57. His last film was to be My Friend Irma (1949), the movie version of a popular radio show. Bressart died during production, forcing the studio to reshoot his completed scenes with Hans Conried, who was playing the same role, "Professor Kropotkin," on radio.[4] In the finished film, Felix Bressart is still seen in the long shots.
