Otto Karl Robert Wernicke (30 September 1893, Osterode am Harz – 7 November 1965) was a German actor. He is best known for his role as police inspector Karl Lohmann in the two Fritz Lang films M and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
Married to a Jewish woman, he was only able to continue working in Germany after the Nazi Party took power in 1933 because he received a special dispensation from the Reich Chamber of Culture.[1] In 1943, he portrayed Captain Smith in Titanic, the first film on the subject which was simply titled Titanic, and the first to combine various fictional characters and subplots with the true events of the sinking; both conventions went on to become a staple of Titanic films.[2] After being cast in 1944 in the propaganda epic Kolberg, he was added to the Gottbegnadeten-Liste, a list of artists considered crucial to Nazi culture which Joseph Goebbels compiled for Adolf Hitler's approval.[1]
