Curiosidades

He appeared unbilled in a couple of films, as well as in some of the first BBC live-television shows ever presented.

John Wengraf was an Austrian actor. He became a matinee idol in the 1930s, and was director of the Vienna State Theatre.

His last few films included minor roles in the war-themed Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Hitler (1962) and Ship of Fools (1965) as well as The Prize (1963).

In London he directed or appeared in more than. 100 plays, among them Shaw's "The Doctor's Dilemma," 'The Devil's Disciple," "Major Barbara," "The Millionairess" and, opposite Elisabeth Bergner, in "Joan of Arc.".

At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, he became the speaker of the series The Austrian Voice as part of the BBC's foreign programs.

In 1941 he appeared on Broadway with Helen Hayes in Candle in the Wind and decided to stay in the US. His other Broadway credits included The Traitor (1949) and The French Touch (1945).

After the "Anschluss of Austria" he emigrated to Czechoslovakia in 1938, and after the German occupation of the "rest of Czechoslovakia" in the spring of 1939 he fled from Prague to London.

He emigrated to Britain in 1939 as the Nazis began their rise to power in Austria. While in London, he was involved with more than 100 plays as either director or actor.

In the 1950s and 1960s he transferred his talents to TV, appearing on a number of dramatic showcases and on such popular programs as The Untouchables (1959), Hawaiian Eye (1959), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) and The Time Tunnel (1966).

Wengraf retired in 1966, and died in Santa Barbara, California in 1974.

Wengraf found himself invariably playing the very characters he detested. Some of his more nefarious nasties surfaced in such films as the Humphrey Bogart classic Sahara (1943), as well as The Boy from Stalingrad (1943), U-Boat Prisoner (1944) and Till We Meet Again (1944).

In Hamburg he also realised some plays as a director before he changed to the Burgtheater in 1931 for two years.

While in London he changed in 1939 his first name Hans to John and continued to act in the theater.

In post-war years, he portrayed ethnic professionals (scientists, doctors, professors, foreign royalty).

Wengraf received his training at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and made his debut at the Vienna Comedy Theatre in 1919. His subsequent stage appearances included Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, and Hamburg. There, he also worked as a theater director at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus and the Thalia Theater.