- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAdolf Anton Wilhelm Wohlbrück
- Height1.83 m
- This dark, debonair, dashing and extremely distinguished Austrian actor was christened Adolf Wohlbrück in Vienna, the scion of a family of circus clowns. He broke away easily from generations of tradition as the circus life had no appeal whatsoever to Walbrook.
Trained by the legendary director Max Reinhardt, Walbrook's reputation grew on both the Austrian and German stages. In between he managed a couple of undistinguished roles in silent films. Billed as Adolf Wohlbrück, the youthfully handsome actor graced a number of romantic films come the advent of sound beginning in 1931. Among them Walzerkrieg (1933) and the gender-bending comedy Victor et Victoria (1933), which later served as the inspiration and basis for Blake Edwards' own Victor/Victoria (1982) starring wife Julie Andrews. Hollywood beckoned in the late 30s for Walbrook to re-shoot dialog for an upcoming international picture Michel Strogoff (1937) again playing Michael Strogoff, a role he had played impeccably in both previous French and German adaptations. With the rise of oppression in Nazi Germany he moved to Great Britain and took his trademark mustache and dark, handsome features to English language films where he went on to appear to great effect.
Portraying a host of imperious kings, bon vivants and and foreign dignitaries over the course of his career, he played everything from composer Johann Strauss to the Bavarian King Ludwig I. With a tendency for grand, intense, over-the-top acting, he was nevertheless quite impressive in a number of portrayals. Such included the sympathetic German officer in the landmark Powell and Pressburger satire Colonel Blimp (1943) and gentle pacifist in another of their collaborations 49ème parallèle (1941); as Prince Albert in the black-and-white glossy costumer La reine Victoria (1937) immediately followed by its color remake Soixante années de gloire (1938) both opposite Anna Neagle's Queen Victoria; and, most notably, as the obsessively demanding impresario opposite ballerina Moira Shearer in the romantic melodrama Les chaussons rouges (1948). His stiff and stern military officers were just as notable which included sterling work in La Reine des cartes (1949) and last-speaking English film L'affaire Dreyfus (1958).
He retired from films at the end of the 1950s, and in later years returned to the European stage and included television roles to his resume. He died in Germany in 1967 of a heart attack.- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- His Les chaussons rouges (1948) co-star Moira Shearer recalled Walbrook was a loner on set, often wearing dark glasses and eating alone.
- On the set of Oh! Rosalinda! (1955) Walbrook--who had left Germany in the early 1930s--would not speak to either Anneliese Rothenberger (extremely temperamental) or Oskar Sima (playing Frosch, in the film a signally unfunny interpreter), both of whom he claimed had been Nazis.
- Walbrook was a fervent anti-Nazi who immediately donated his £1000 fee to charity for his part in the movie 49ème parallèle (1941).
- His ashes were interred in the churchyard of St. John's Church, Hampstead, London, as he had wished in his testament.
- His mastery of English was remarkable and enabled him to appear on the stage from 1939 onward, something few emigre actors accomplished. He always brought an English teacher--his English governess from childhood--to the set to help him with pronunciation.
- Colonel Blimp (1952) - £5,000
- 49ème parallèle (1952) - £2,000 (for 2 weeks)
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