Eduard von Winterstein
Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim, known as Eduard von Winterstein, was an Austrian-German film actor who appeared in over one hundred fifty German films during the silent and sound eras. He was also a noted theater actor.
Biography
Von Winterstein was born in Vienna on 1 August 1871 to landowner Hugo von Wangenheim and his second wife, Hungarian-born actress Aloysia "Luise" von Wangenheim-Dub. His predecessors were the Barons of Wangenheim. He took acting lessons from his mother, who had played at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Winterstein came to Gera in 1889 and acted in theaters along with his mother and sister Clementine, where he had "undeservedly forgotten" experiences. He acted in the play Ersten Held und Liebhaber in 1893. The same year, he played the title role in Egmont at the opening of a theater in Annaberg on 2 April 1893. "I was re-born in Annaberg and became like a completely different person. In this small town I had really become an actor. So the Anna Berger time was one of the best in my profession." he wrote in his autobiography. At this theater he met the actress Minna Menger, whom he married in 1894. They had a son, Gustav von Wangenheim, who went on to become an actor. The Theater in Annaberg-Buchholz is named today.
From 1895, he played at the Schiller Theater which had signed him for a three-year contract and from 1898 at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin under Otto Brahm. He married Hedwig Pauly in 1899. Next he worked at the Lessing theater and acted in Gorky's The Lower Depths at Max Reinhardt's Kleines Theater. Later he worked under Max Reinhardt. When he moved up Winterstein enthusiastically commented about the country with the following words:
Berlin! It was at that time much more than today, the long-awaited paradise, after each German actor strove with all their might... Here in the big city flourished a lively theater life. The theater almanac from 1895 lists twenty-four theaters for Berlin. I had found temporary accommodation with relatives with my family in the Großbeerenstraße... I was happy that I was just in Berlin to debut in this role."
He taught acting from 1905 to 1920 at a theater school founded by Max Reinhardt. From 1913, Winterstein also started acting in films. In the period after the Second World War, he worked with the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater. There he played the role of Nathan approximately four hundred times. He won the Best male actor award at the Film Festival in Karlovy Vary for his portrayal of the title role in Die Sonnenbrucks. He soon became a popular German film actor and was cast to play the roles of energetic elders as generals, judges, landlords and directors. He won the national award thrice for his acting in Georg C. Klaren-directed Semmelweis - Retter der Mütter, Wolfgang Staudte-directed Der Untertan (film) and Martin Hellberg-directed . Unlike the theater, however, Winterstein's appearances were limited in the film mostly on a few scenes. He appeared in 150 films and was the part of various intercom panel discussions, including even in old age the ring story from Nathan the Wise for the East German recording label. His last film was Der schweigende Stern.
Winterstein deliberately chose a life in East Germany, a fact of which the country's cultural policy took advantage. After his death, Neues Deutschland gave him a special, with the title "The Better Choice". Its final passage reads:I have experienced a lot of changes: under three emperors, the first world war, the pseudo-democracy of the Second Empire, the Weimar Republic, the terrible twelve years of National Socialism and that induced the complete collapse of the German Empire, until I take sigh of relief from free will and will join the new progressive spirit and am now proud to call a citizen of the German Democratic Republic and this is insight and reason for choosing the better.
A street in Potsdam is named in his honour.
Selected filmography
Werner Krafft as Werner KrafftThe Giant's Fist as Diether von BrakeThe Coquette Prostitution The Mask as Count CampobelloBlonde Poison as ChauffeurDuring My Apprenticeship The Monastery of Sendomir Irrlicht Madeleine President Barrada Battle of the Sexes Mary Tudor as Simon RenardThe Yellow Death as Officer KarpuschkinFigaros Hochzeit Intrigue as Der GatteMary Magdalene as Master AntonHamlet as King ClaudiusLady Godiva as the dukeDanton as General WestermannThe Devil and Circe The White Death as the fatherThe Stranger from Alster Street The Adventuress of Monte Carlo as RimayThe False Dimitri as Boyard Bielsky The Diadem of the Czarina The Fire Ship Bigamy The Strumpet's Plaything The White Desert as IwanCircus People The Stream Fridericus Rex as Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau Gold and Luck as BauerWilliam Tell as Werner StauffacherThe Treasure of Gesine Jacobsen as Doctor HolgersenThe Path to God as Thomas BaltGuillotine as Prosecutor LarocheThe Little Duke as Commandant von TrucschiczGarragan Claire A Free People as Administrator von NehlingWhat the Stones Tell as General WrangelPeople in Need as General SamsonovGoetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand Ash Wednesday as the commanderDestiny as Minister von GlaynWallenstein as TerzkyThe Mill at Sanssouci as Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-DessauFedora The Woman in Gold Women of Passion The Adventurers as Karl LüttgenThe Fallen as the magistrateI Liked Kissing Women as Franz HartwigThe House of Lies as Dr. HellingThe Bohemian Dancer as Gamekeeper LangeThe Master of Death as Colonel von HersdorffThe Good Reputation Mademoiselle Josette, My Woman Lützow's Wild Hunt as Gebhard Leberecht von BlücherTragedy of a Marriage The Pink Slippers as the head gamekeeperA Girl of the People as General LaudonOn the Banks of the River Weser That Was Heidelberg on Summer Nights as Lord WagnerPrinz Louis Ferdinand as ScharnhorstA Day of Roses in August as Major von RudowThe Mysterious Mirror as the lordMaster and Mistress Napoleon at St. Helena as Gebhard Leberecht von BlücherThe Blue Angel as the school's directorThe Other as Dr. KoehlerDarling of the Gods as Dr. MarbergHim or Me as R.A. WilkenLove's Carnival as Commandant von FrieseRoad to Rio as the police commissionerIn the Employ of the Secret Service as the spy's chiefBetween Night and Dawn as the fatherSacred Waters as Peter WaldischTrenck as Wilhelm Heinrich Freiherr von der GoltzThe White Demon as the Marquis d'EsquillonThe First Right of the Child Secret Agent as Professor ManaganMan Without a Name as the judgeFrederica as Capitain KnebelSpies at Work as Commandant von WaldmüllerThe Roberts Case as Burgomaster BergmannThe Judas of Tyrol as KreutzwirtAt the Strasbourg as Jacob RustiThe Rider on the White Horse as the mayorThe Last Waltz as General DymoffThe Higher Command as MajorRegine as KellerHis Late Excellency as Count SeefeldThe Girl from the Marsh Croft as Mr. GerhartHundred Days The Schimeck Family Trouble Backstairs as Judge MullerMartha Ninety Minute Stopover Martha Winter in the Woods as the gamekeeperDer Etappenhase as Major GrotheMadame Bovary as HuretThe Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes as the supreme judgeThe Coral Princess as VukowitschSerenade as the doctorThe Marriage Swindler as Franz BuschkoThe Man Who Couldn't Say No Napoleon Is to Blame for Everything as Mister HarrisonA Prussian Love Story as General von GneisenauThe Green Emperor as the second judgeLiberated Hands as Lord von ErkenRobert Koch as Prof. Ernst von BergmannD III 88 as LandarztThe Journey to Tilsit as Erwin BohrmannIn the Name of the People The Immortal Heart Stars of Variety The Merciful Lie Das Herz der Königin as the English generalThe Girl from Barnhelm Bismarck as General von MansteinKopf hoch, Johannes! Annelie Ohm Krüger as Commandant CronjeAndreas Schlüter as NaumannRembrandt as Ratsherr van StraatenMünchhausen as Munchausen's fatherWhen the Young Wine Blossoms Philharmonic Hoegler's Mission Die Sonnenbrucks Der Untertan Das Lied der Matrosen First Spaceship on Venus as the nuclear physicist