Wolfgang Zilzer
Wolfgang Zilzer was a German-American stage and film actor, often under the stage name Paul Andor.
Biography
Zilzer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German-Jewish emigrant Max Zilzer, who was employed at the local theater. Zilzer's mother died soon after his birth, and his father returned to Germany in 1905.
Zilzer appeared on stage in child roles and made his first movie appearance in the age of 14. Around 1930, he moved back to the United States, but had only small success as an actor. He returned to Germany. According to a 1943 Jewish Telegraphic Agency newspaper article, he "was a featured player of UFA in the palmy days before the Furore ", but after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Zilzer fled to France, where he worked dubbing voices in several French versions of Hollywood productions. In 1935, Zilzer returned to Germany again, finally emigrating to the US in 1937. Applying for a visa at the U.S. embassy, he first realized he already had US citizenship. After his emigration, he started to work with Ernst Lubitsch in several anti-Nazi movies, using pseudonyms to protect his father, who was still living in Berlin. With appearances in films from 1915 to 1986, Zilzer had one of the longest careers in cinema history. The Internet Broadway Database lists a single credit for a Wolfgang Zilzer, in the 1943 play The Barber Had Two Sons.
Zilzer married the German-Jewish actress ; both appeared in the 1942 movie Casablanca. Zilzer played the man without a passport who is shot by French policemen at the beginning of the film. After World War II, Zilzer performed on stage in the United States and in Germany.
Later in life he became known to a new audience as a recurring character "Henry" on Late Night with David Letterman, who Letterman would continuously fire for mundane reasons. These exchanges were almost always prefaced by Henry mentioning he was a short time away from collecting his pension.
At the end of the 1980s Zilzer contracted Parkinson's disease and decided to return to Germany. His wife refused to do so, and their marriage ended in divorce after almost 50 years, close to both their deaths.
Wolfgang Zilzer died in Berlin on June 26, 1991, aged 90 and is buried at the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf.
Selected filmography
Der Barbier von Flimersdorf Professor Erichsons Rivale Die Spinne The Ancient Law – PageVineta. Die versunkene Stadt Schützenliesel – Dr. Blasius NestlDas edle Blut – Von GünsfeldForbidden Love – Freund von HansPoor Little Colombine – Christoph BurgerVenus im Frack Mata Hari – Erzherzog OskarPrimanerliebe – Rolf KarstenThe Marriage Nest – Leutnant WranowAlpine Tragedy – Fredo, LehrerThe Awakening of Woman – Fritz Wille, SohnThe White Spider – Diener bei Lord BarrymoreSchwere Jungs - leichte Mädchen – HopplerDie Geliebte des Gouverneurs – HusarenoffizierAlraune – WölfchenThérèse Raquin – Camille RaquinEve's Daughters – Baron Hans von Stetten / Jean de StettenWhen the Mother and the Daughter Sir or Madam Lemke's Widow Docks of Hamburg – The nipperThe Abduction of the Sabine Women – Balsamo, IntrigantHotelgeheimnisse – Komplize des HochstaplersPainted Youth – WalterThe Right of the Unborn – FredyThe Woman in the Advocate's Gown – Leif AndersenCrucified Girl Tragedy of Youth – EmilRevolt in the Reformatory – HansKarriere Such Is Life – WooerMarriage in Name Only – Max BenkenRetreat on the Rhine – Karl, Oskars BurscheBoycott - Möller, OberprimanerBookkeeper Kremke Wibbel the Tailor – Schneidergeselle ZimpelAsh Wednesday – NeufertCasanova wider Willen Raid in St. Pauli – Musiker-LeoStrafsache von Geldern Ever in My Heart – Voice of Hugo Wilbrandt Bluebeard's Eighth Wife – Book Salesman Crime Ring – Hans, the Forger I'll Give a Million – Citizen Hotel Imperial – Limping Tenor Confessions of a Nazi Spy – Westphal Espionage Agent – Heinrich Ninotchka – Taxi Driver Hitler - Beast of Berlin – Kleswing Television Spy – FromeEverything Happens at Night – Thief at Dock Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet – Kellner Four Sons – Peasant Three Faces West – Dr. Rudolf Preussner A Dispatch from Reuter's – Post Office Clerk Escape – Pavilion Counter Clerk So Ends Our Night – Vogt Forbidden Passage – Otto KestlerOut of Darkness – Leon Rochelle – Second Editor of La Libre Belgique Shining Victory – Subordinate Underground – HoffmanWorld Premiere – Bushmaster's Aide All Through the Night – Frascher The Lady Has Plans – German Clerk – Baron's Office To Be or Not to Be – Man in Bookstore Joan of Ozark – Kurt Invisible Agent – Von Porten Berlin Correspondent – Patient The Devil with Hitler – Otto Schultz Casablanca – Man with Expired Papers Margin for Error – Bit Part They Got Me Covered – Cross Assignment in Brittany – Captain Deichgraber's Aide They Came to Blow Up America – SchlegelHitler's Madman – SS Colonel Appointment in Berlin – Cripple Bomber's Moon – Nazi Doctor Treating JeffBehind the Rising Sun – Max The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler – AttorneyParis After Dark – German Announcer In Our Time – Father Józef They Live in Fear – Old Man Enemy of Women – Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels Hotel Berlin – Walter Baumler Counter-Attack – Krafft Week-End at the Waldorf – Waiter Stairway to Light – Dr. Philippe Pinel Carnegie Hall – Waiter Women in the Night – German Doctor Walk East on Beacon! – August Helmuth Singing in the Dark – Refugee Terror After Midnight – Vater Reynolds Mister Buddwing – Man on the Street The Diary of Anne Frank Union City – Ludendorff Lovesick – Analyst FDR: A One Man Show – UnderstudyThe Passenger – Welcome to Germany – Levi
Partial television credits
Claudia: The Story of a Marriage The United States Steel Hour