Paul Henreid

Paul Henreid (born Paul Georg Julius Freiherr von Hernried Ritter von Wasel-Waldingau; 10 January 1908 – 29 March 1992) was a Trieste-born American actor and film director, best remembered for playing Jeremiah Durrance opposite Bette Davis in Now, Voyager (1942), and Victor Laszlo opposite Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca(1942).

Early life

Born in the Italian city of Trieste, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Henreid was the son of Maria-Luise (Lendecke) and Baron Carl Alphons, an aristocratic Viennese banker.[3] He studied theatre in Vienna and debuted on the stage under the direction of Max Reinhardt. He began his film career acting in German films in the 1930s. In 1935 he emigrated from Austria for Great Britain one year after the 1934 Austrian Civil War which ended with installation of Austrofascism. With the start of World War II, Henreid risked deportation or internment as an enemy alien, but Conrad Veidt spoke for him and he was allowed to remain free in England.

A small role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), and third billing as a Nazi Major in Night Train to Munich (1940), led to his shifting to a Hollywood career. When he was contracted to RKO in 1942, the studio changed his surname, dropping the "von" and the first "r", and reversing the order of the "i" and "e". His first film for RKO was Joan of Paris (1942).

Career

In 1942, Henreid also appeared in his two most important films. In Now, Voyager, he and Bette Davis created one of the screen's most imitated scenes, in which he lights two cigarettes and hands one to her. Henreid's next role was as Victor Laszlo, heroic anti-Nazi leader, in Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. In 1946, Henreid became a citizen of the United States.

He made regular film appearances throughout the 1940s, and in the early 1950s began directing for both film and television. His film credits include Between Two Worlds (1944), The Spanish Main (1945), Of Human Bondage (1946),Song of Love (1947), Thief of Damascus (1952), Siren of Bagdad (1953), and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961). His television directorial credits include Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, Bonanza and The Big Valley. In 1964, Henreid directed Dead Ringer, which starred Bette Davis and featured, in a minor role, the director's daughter, Monika.

Death

Paul Henreid's grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica

Henreid died of pneumonia in Santa Monica and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Henreid married Elizabeth "Lisl" Gluck (1908–1993) in 1936; the couple had two daughters.

Paul Henreid has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one (for film) at 6366 Hollywood Boulevard and the other (for television) at 1722 Vine Street.

Filmography

As actor

• Dawn (1933)
• Love in Morocco (1933)
• The Secret of Cavelli (1934)
• Eva, the Factory Girl (1935)
• Only a Comedian (1935)
• Victoria the Great (1937)
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
• Under Your Hat (1940)
• Mad Men of Europe (1940)
• Night Train to Munich (1940)
• Joan of Paris (1942)
• Now, Voyager (1942)
• Casablanca (1942)
• In Our Time (1944)
• Between Two Worlds (1944)
• The Conspirators (1944)
• Hollywood Canteen (1944)
• The Spanish Main (1945)
• Devotion (1946)
• Of Human Bondage (1946)
• Deception (1946)
• Song of Love (1947)

• Hollow Triumph aka The Scar (UK) (1948)
• Rope of Sand (1949)
• So Young So Bad (1950)
• Last of the Buccaneers (1950)
• Pardon My French (1951) - also French version Dans la vie tout s'arrange (1952)
• For Men Only (1952)
• Thief of Damascus (1952)
• Stolen Face (1952)
• Mantrap (aka Woman in Hiding) (1953)
• Siren of Bagdad (1953)
• This Song Is for You (1954)
• Deep in My Heart (1954)
• Pirates of Tripoli (1955)
• Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
• A Woman's Devotion (1956)
• Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)
• Holiday for Lovers (1959)
• Never So Few (1959)
• Operation Crossbow (1965)
• Peking Remembered (1967) - documentary, narrator
• The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
• Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

As producer

• Hollow Triumph (1948)

As director

• For Men Only (1952)
• A Woman's Devotion (1956)
• Live Fast, Die Young (1958)
• Girls on the Loose (1958)
• Dead Ringer (1964)
• Ballad in Blue (1964)