Trivia

Had a career spanning 80 years.

Having only 10 seconds of screen immortality in Casablanca (1942) belies the fact that Bois was considered an acting prodigy in Germany as a young boy. He became a leading comedian on the German stage in the early 1930s under the direction of the great Max Reinhardt and was a hit in the Viennese stage production of "Charley's Aunt" at the Josefstad Theater.

He was also able to convince with smaller scenes such as "Der Himmel über Berlin" (1987), where he achieved the European film award for the best support actor in 1988.

Was a singer in Berlin cabarets in the late 20s - early 30s.

Bois was born in Berlin and began acting in 1907, becoming one of the film world's first child actors, with a role in the silent movie Bauernhaus und Grafenschloß.

The actor Curt Bois was one of the first child stars at all. He played in the operetta "Der fidele Bauer" (1908) the part of Heinerle. The operetta was recorded on a disc at the same and also as a sound picture, the predecessor of the "running pictures". After that followed numerous child parts on the stage in which Curt Bois shined.

In the 30's and 40's he played with the greatest stars of the American film. To the lustrous society belong Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone, Dick Powell, John Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Rita Hayworth and Ingrid Bergmann.

Over several stages he finally reached New York in 1934 where he found occupation on Broadway for the present. Later he went to Hollywood where he was able to build up an impressive career with minor parts.

In 1950 Curt Bois returned to Germany and went to the East part of Berlin. There he played again for the theater and appeared in his only movie "Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti" (1955). Because interesting roles failed to come, Curt Bois went to West Berlin where he was boycotted for the present. Only from 1957 he could take on bigger parts at the theater, the film became again a employer from 1958.

In 1934, Bois was forced to leave his home in Nazi Germany for the United States because he was Jewish, where he found work on stage on Broadway.

Curt Bois played his last role in the 1989 short film Das letzte Band, ending a film career of 82 years.

One of his final performances was in Wim Wenders' Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) in 1987, portraying the aged poet Homer "who endlessly wanders Berlin in the hope of properly capturing the city on paper".[5] He won the European Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.

In the summer of 1991, filming began on "In weiter Ferne, so nah!" , the follow-up to "Der Himmel über Berlin." When Curt Bois died in Berlin on December 25, 1991, the role was replaced by Heinz Rühmann. Bois had already helped Rühmann achieve success after turning down the role in "Die Drei von der Tankstelle" due to personal reservations about Ufa.

On February 7, 1933, one week after Hitler's "seizure of power," Curt Bois left Germany. He saw three options for his future: kill himself, be killed, or eke out a life in another country.

Bois finished his life and career in Germany, first in the East, and then in the West. He appeared at the Schiller Theater and the Theater des Westens for many years.