Albert Bassermann (7 September 1867 – 15 May 1952) was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous
Iffland-Ring
The Iffland-Ring is a diamond-studded ring with a picture of August Wilhelm Iffland, a prominent German actor, dramatist and theatre director of the late 18th and early 19th century. The holder, or bearer, of the Iffland-Ring is considered to be t ...
. He was married to
Elsa Schiff with whom he frequently performed.
Life and career
Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
, his birthplace, after he began to study chemistry at the Technical University of Karlsruhe in 1884/85. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the
Deutsches Theater Berlin
The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two ad ...
from 1904, the same year that his future wife, actress
Elsa Bassermann
Elsa Bassermann (born Elsa Sarah Schiff; January 14, 1878 – May 30, 1961) was a German screenwriter, stage and film actress. She was married to Albert Bassermann and often acted with him. As she was Jewish the couple had to leave Nazi Germa ...
(née Schiff), moved to Berlin to work at that same theater. In 1909, the year after they married, he started working at the Lessing Theatre, though he also continued at the Deutsches Theater, working there with
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...
from 1909 to 1915. Roles included ''
Othello
''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...
'' in 1910,
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...
Part II with
Friedrich Kayssler
Friedrich Martin Adalbert Kayssler, also spelled Kayßler (7 April 1874 – 30 April 1945), was a German theatre and film actor. He appeared in 56 films between 1913 and 1945.
Biography
Kayssler was born in Neurode in the Silesia Province o ...
in 1911, Shylock in ''
The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
'' and
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
's ''The Storm'' with
Gertrud Eysoldt
Gertrud Franziska Gabriele Eysoldt (30 November 1870 – 6 January 1955) was a German actress. She appeared in more than fifteen films from 1923 to 1949.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
1870 births
1955 deaths
Peop ...
in 1913.
Bassermann was among the first German theatre actors who worked in film. In 1913, he played the main role of the lawyer in
Max Mack
Max Mack (1884–1973) was a German screenwriter, film producer and director during the silent era. He is particularly known for his 1913 film ''The Other''. He directed, and co-starred in, an early film adaptation of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' in ...
's ''
Der Andere'' (''The Other''), after
the play by
Paul Lindau. In 1915, he appeared in ''
Egmont (play)
''Egmont'' is a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which he completed in 1788. Its dramaturgical structure, like that of his earlier play ''Götz von Berlichingen'' (1773), is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy. In contrast to the earli ...
'' with
:de:Victor Barnowsky at the
:de:Deutsches Künstlertheater. He also worked with German silent film directors
Richard Oswald
Richard Oswald (5 November 1880 – 11 September 1963) was an Austrian film director, producer, screenwriter, and father of German-American film director Gerd Oswald.
Early career
Richard Oswald, born in Vienna as Richard W. Ornstein, began h ...
,
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...
,
Leopold Jessner
Leopold Jessner (3 March 1878 – 13 December 1945) was a noted producer and director of German Expressionist theater and cinema. His first film, '' Hintertreppe'' (1921), is considered a major turning point which paved the way for the later ...
and Lupu Pick. In 1928 he appeared in the first staging of
Carl Zuckmayer
Carl Zuckmayer (27 December 1896 – 18 January 1977) was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer.
Life and career
Born in Nackenheim in Rhenish Hesse, he was t ...
's ''
Katharina Knie'', and in November that year in ''Herr Lambertier'' by
Verneuil
In 1933, Bassermann left Germany and lived in Switzerland,
[Annija Simsone, Atminas, Atminas, Gramatu Draugs, copyright 1961, page 109. Note: The book is in Latvian; an English translation exists but has not been published.] then moved to the United States in 1938.
Annija Simsone, who played opposite Bassermann in the Neue Wiener Buehne Theater in the 1920s, wrote the following in her autobiography: "During the Hitler era, Bassermann did not perform in Germany, though Adolf Hitler personally held him in high regard; Elsa was Jewish. Bassermann was told that if he wanted to continue to perform in Germany, he would have to get divorced. He did not get divorced, but Elsa and he went to Switzerland instead."
[
Although his ability to speak English was very limited, he learned lines phonetically with assistance from his wife and found work as a character actor. For his performance as the Dutch statesman Van Meer in ]Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
's ''Foreign Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
'', Bassermann was nominated for an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
as Best Supporting Actor in 1940. He returned to Europe in 1946. His final film appearance was in '' The Red Shoes''.
In her acting textbook ''Respect for Acting'', actress Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' by Edward Albee, who called her "a ...
said:
"One of the finest lessons I ever learned was from the great German actor Albert Basserman. I worked with him as Hilde in ''The Master Builder
''The Master Builder'' ( no, Bygmester Solness) is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.
It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works.
Performance
The play was published ...
'' by Ibsen. He was already past eighty but was as 'modern' in his conception of the role of Solness and in his techniques as anyone I've ever seen or played with. In rehearsals he felt his way with the new cast. (The role had been in his repertoire for almost forty years.) He watched us, listened to us, adjusted to us, meanwhile executing his actions with only a small part of his playing energy. At the first dress rehearsal, he started to play fully. There was such a vibrant reality to the rhythm of his speech and behavior that I was swept away by it. I kept waiting for him to come to an end with his intentions so that I could take my 'turn.' As a result, I either made a big hole in the dialogue or desperately cut in on him in order to avoid another hole. I was expecting the usual 'It's your turn; then it's my turn.' At the end of the first act I went to his dressing room and said, 'Mr. Basserman, I can't apologize enough, but I never know when you're through!' He looked at me in amazement and said, 'I'm never through! And neither should you be.'"
Death
Bassermann died on May 16, 1952, at or near the Zurich Airport
Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switze ...
, soon after his flight from the United States had arrived. He is buried in Mannheim.
Filmography
See also
* List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees
This is a list of Academy Award winners and nominees from Germany.
Acting categories
Actor in a Leading Role
Actor in a Supporting Role
Actress in a Leading Role
Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Bes ...
References
Sources
*
External links
*
Photographs of Albert Bassermann
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassermann, Albert
German male film actors
German male silent film actors
German male stage actors
Iffland-Ring
Actors from Mannheim
1867 births
1952 deaths
German expatriate male actors in the United States
20th-century German male actors