Reinhold Schünzel
Reinhold Schünzel was a German actor and director, active in both Germany and the United States. The son of a German father and a Jewish mother, he was born in St. Pauli, the poorest part of Hamburg. Despite his ancestry, Schünzel was allowed by the Nazis to continue making films for several years until he left in 1937 to live abroad.
Biography
Life in Germany
Reinhold Schünzel started his career as an actor in 1915 with a role in the film Werner Krafft. He directed his first film in 1918's Mary Magdalene and in 1920 directed The Girl from Acker Street and Catherine the Great. He was one of Germany's best-known silent film stars after World War I, a period during which films were significantly influenced by the consequences of the war. Schünzel performed in both comedies and dramas, often appearing as a villain or a powerful and corrupt man.
He was influenced by filmmakers such as his mentor Richard Oswald and Ernst Lubitsch, for whom he worked as an actor in the film Madame Dubarry in 1919.
Schünzel's work was very popular in Germany and the Nazi regime gave him the title of Ehrenarier or Honorary Aryan, allowing him to continue to direct and act despite his Jewish heritage. He found that the government, first under Kaiser Wilhelm II and later under Adolf Hitler, interfered with his film projects, compelling him to leave in 1937. Schünzel described both the Kaiser and Hitler "persons of recognized authority and the worst possible dramatic taste."
Schünzel came to the United States in 1937, and began his American career in Hollywood at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Among the films he directed were Rich Man, Poor Girl, Ice Follies, Balalaika, and New Wine. He also acted in films like The Hitler Gang, Dragonwyck, and The Vicious Circle, among others. His most memorable performance was as Dr. Anderson, a Nazi conspirator, in the film Notorious released in 1946. Schünzel went to New York in 1945 to make a debut on Broadway. He acted in Temper the Wind in 1946, and both appeared in Montserrat and starred in the Clifford Odets Broadway play The Big Knife in 1949.
Among the prizes he received was the Federal West German Film prize for the best supporting role in the movie My Father's Horses.
He became a U.S citizen in 1943 and he returned to Germany in 1949.
Personal life
Schünzel died of a heart attack in Munich, Germany.
His daughter Marianne Stewart was born in Berlin, and followed her father by becoming an actress. She appeared in Broadway plays and was known for The Facts of Life, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and Time Table.
Filmography
German films
The Grehn Case as Kriminalrat Rat AnheimDer Fall Hoop as Kriminalrat AnheimBubi Is Jealous as Hellmut HartlebenWerner Krafft as Heinz KleinschmidtThe Confessions of the Green Mask The Uncanny House as Engelbert Fox / Ralph Robin, PrivatdetektivHis Coquettish Wife Die Stricknadeln The Knitting Needles Under the Spell of Silence Your Dearest Enemy Benjamin the Timid The Night Talk The Newest Star of Variety The Coquette as Tertianer RolfThe Unmarried Woman The Lord of Hohenstein Mountain Air as Von StorchThe Bracelet as HausfreundCountess Kitchenmaid as Der SchüchternePut to the Test as Reichsgraf Adolar von WarowingenIn the Castle by the Lake as Erich von StrehsenCain Spring Storms as Reinhold, Neffe von KönigswartMidnight as Dick Tillinghaft, ReporterThe Mirror of the World as KonkurrentThe Ballet Girl as Eduard Stutzig, LebemannDiary of a Lost Woman as Graf Kasimir OsdorffLet There Be Light as Fabrikbesitzer KallenbachFilm Kathi Crown and Whip Liebe, die sich frei verschenkt Prostitution as Karl DöringAround the World in Eighty Days as Archibald CorsicanDifferent from the Others as Franz BollekOne or the Other The Carousel of Life The Apache of Marseilles as Apache BadinguetHedda's Revenge as GeorgThe Peruvian as Egon HartensteinA Night in Paradise as EdeSeelenverkäufer as OrvilleBlonde Poison as Adolf ReissDie Prostitution, 2. Teil - Die sich verkaufen The Secret of Wera Baranska Madame Dubarry as Minister ChoiseulMadness as JörgesSeine Beichte as Achim von WellinghausenDuring My Apprenticeship as Axel von RambowUnheimliche Geschichten as Der Teufel / Former husband / Murderer / Drunk / Artur Silas, detective / Travelling Baron Lilli's Marriage as Dr. GoldmannLilli as Dr. GoldmannDie schwarze Marion The Duty to Live The Devil and the Madonna Was Den Männern Gefällt Love as Herbert WarfieldFieber Was den Männern gefällt The Rose of the Flyer The Loves of Käthe Keller as Erbprinz OttokarThe Girl and the Men The Secret of the American Docks as Corbett, ReisenderBaccarat The Count of Cagliostro as CagliostroFigures of the Night as SekretärDancer of Death Mary Magdalene as LeonhardThe Dancer Barberina as Prinz von CarignanThe Girl from Acker Street The Prisoner as Französischer LagerkommandantThree Nights as VerbrecherThe Bandits of Asnières as Jean, der ApacheMoriturus Catherine the Great as Tsar PeterThe Chameleon Christian Wahnschaffe The Anti-Detective The Last Hour The Story of a Maid Deceiver of the People Lady Hamilton as Ferdinand IV, König von NeapelMoney in the Streets as Harry ListerLuise Millerin as Hofmarschall KalbBigamy as AlexandroffThe Love Nest as Lothar von BrandtThe Three Marys as Don Juan de la MaranaThe Treasure of Gesine Jacobsen as RasmussenThe Misanthrope Adam and Eve as SchieberThe Slipper Hero The New Land Strong Winds Battle of the Butterflies as Richard Keßler, ReisenderA Woman for 24 Hours Rags and Silk as MaxThe Marriage Swindler Flight Around the World as Louis RenardThe Flower Girl of Potsdam Square as StiefelputzerDer Flug um den Erdball, 2. Teil - Indien, Europa The Salesgirl from the Fashion Store Cock of the Roost as Peter AbendrotDen of Iniquity as Emil StiebelZwischen zwei Frauen The Pride of the Company as Wilhelm, der Stolz der KompagnieTea Time in the Ackerstrasse Circus Romanelli as Der dumme AugustWe'll Meet Again in the Heimat as Gustav KnospeThe Imaginary Baron as Der JuxbaronHello Caesar! as Caesar, ArtistHeaven on Earth as Traugott BellmannAlways Be True and Faithful as Orje DuffGesetze der Liebe Herkules Maier as Stadtreisender Herkules MaierDon Juan in a Girls' School as Dr. Eckehart BleibtreuAdam and Eve as Adam GrünauYou Walk So Softly as Gustav MondFrom a Bachelor's Diary as FranzPeter the Mariner as Peter SturzColumn X as Robert Sandt, Führer der Kolonne XLove in the Ring Phantoms of Happiness 1914 as Czar Nicholas IIRonny Ronny The Little Escapade The Threepenny Opera as Tiger BrownHer Grace Commands as Staatsminister Graf HerlitzLe Bal as Alfred Kampf as Alfred Kampf How Shall I Tell My Husband? Le petit écart The Beautiful Adventure The Beautiful Adventure Victor and Victoria Season in Cairo Idylle au Caire The English Marriage George and Georgette Die Töchter ihrer Exzellenz La jeune fille d'une nuit Amphitryon Les dieux s'amusent The Girl Irene Donogoo Tonka Donogoo Land of Love Die Stimme Reichstag's as himself
American films
Rich Man, Poor Girl The Ice Follies of 1939 Balalaika The Great Awakening Hangmen Also Die! as Gestapo Insp. RitterFirst Comes Courage as Col. Kurt von ElserHostages as Kurt DaluegeThe Hitler Gang as Gen. LudendorffThe Man in Half Moon Street as Dr. Kurt van BrueckenDragonwyck as Count De Grenier Notorious as Dr. AndersonPlainsman and the Lady as Michael H. ArnesenGolden Earrings as Prof. Otto KrosigkBerlin Express as WaltherThe Vicious Circle as Baron AradyWashington Story as Peter Kralik
West German films
The Dubarry Meines Vaters Pferde I. Teil Lena und Nicoline as Konsul RittinghausMeines Vaters Pferde, 2. Teil: Seine dritte Frau as Konsul RittinghausA Love Story as Schlumberger, Schauspieldirektor