Emil Jannings(1884-1950)
- Actor
- Producer
- Art Department
His real name was Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, and in the early
1900s, he was already working in the theater under Max Reinhardt's company.
Important movies where he defined himself as a convincing actor were
Passion (1919) and Quo Vadis? (1924), followed by Le dernier des hommes (1924) (aka The Last Laugh) in 1924
and Variétés (1925) (aka Variety) in 1925. In 1928, he became the first male
leading actor to receive the academy award for Crépuscule de gloire (1928) directed by
Josef von Sternberg. In 1929, Stenberg directed him in his world famous movie
L'ange bleu (1930) (aka The Blue Angel) co-starring the young Marlene Dietrich (her first
role). Later on, he concentrated on theater and dedicated his acting
skills to the Nazi regime and also took part in the realization of
Le président Krüger (1941) in 1941, an expensive anti-British film production. When the
Second World War ended, the US government cleaned his image, and he
converted to Catholicism. He played in a few more German movies, but
his career never recaptured its brilliance.
