Curt Bois

Curt Bois (born Kurt Boas; April 5, 1901 – December 25, 1991) was a German actor with a career spanning over 80 years. He is best remembered for his performances as the pickpocket in '' Casablanca'' (1942) and the poet Homer in '' Wings of Desire'' (1987).

Life and career

Bois was born to a German Jewish family in Berlin and began acting in 1907, becoming one of the film world's first child actors, with a role in the silent movie ''Bauernhaus und Grafenschloß''. In 1909, he played the title role in ''Der Kleine Detektiv'' ('The Little Detective'). Bois performed in theatre, cabaret, musicals, silent films, and "talkies" over his long acting career. He performed under Max Reinhardt and found success in 1928 in a Viennese stage production of " Charley's Aunt" at the Josefstadt Theater. He was a successful character comic, and for a while film studios tried to make him into a "German Harold Lloyd".

In 1934, institutionalized Anti-Semitism forced the Jewish Bois to leave his home in Nazi Germany for the United States. There he found work on stage on Broadway. By 1937, he had made his way to Hollywood and began acting in films, the best-known being '' Casablanca'' (1942), in which he warns a befuddled English gentleman to be on guard against pickpockets ("vultures everywhere") while stealing the man's wallet. He had a notable supporting role in '' Caught'' (1949), starring Robert Ryan, Barbara Bel Geddes, and James Mason; Ryan played a megalomaniacal industrialist openly based on Howard Hughes and Bois was Ryan's conflicted fixer, Franzi Kartos. Most of his Hollywood roles were small, but nevertheless Bois was in demand. After World War II, Bois decided it was safe to return to Germany, which he did in 1950.

Bois finished his life and career in Germany, first in the East, and then in the West. He appeared at the Schiller Theater and the Theater des Westens for many years. One of his final performances was in Wim Wenders' ''Der Himmel über Berlin'' ('' Wings of Desire'') in 1987, portraying the aged poet Homer "who endlessly wanders Berlin in the hope of properly capturing the city on paper".Curt Bois
at Allmovie He won the European Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role. He played his last role in the 1989 short film ''Das letzte Band'', ending a film career of 82 years. Bois died in Berlin, the city of his birth, at the age of 90.

Complete filmography

* ''Bauernhaus und Grafenschloß'' (1907, Short)
* ''Der fidele Bauer – 1. Terzett: Ein Infant'rist, ein Artill'rist'' (1908, Short)
* ''Der fidele Bauer – 2. Terzett: Bauernmarsch'' (1908, Short)
* ''Der fidele Bauer – 3. Duettino zwischen Liesl und Heinerle'' (1908, Short)
* ''Der kleine Detektiv'' (1909, Short)
* ''Mutterliebe'' (1909, Short)
* ''Klebolin klebt alles'' (1909, Short)
* ''Ein neuer Erwerbszweig'' (1912, Short)
* ''Des Pfarrers Töchterlein'' (''The Minister's Daughter'') (1913, Short)
* ''Das Geschenk des Inders'' (1914) as Child
* ''Streichhölzer, kauft Streichhölzer!'' (1916)
* ''BZ-Maxe & Co.'' (1916)
* ' (1916)
* ''Tante Röschen will heiraten'' (1916)
* ''Die Spinne'' (1917)
* ''Abenteuer im Warenhaus'' (1917, Short)
* ' (1917)
* ''Das Unruhige Hotel'' (1917)
* ''Der Dieb'' (1918) as Hellmuth
* ' (1918)
* ''Der Gast aus der vierten Dimension'' (1918)
* ''So'n kleiner Schwerenöter'' (1918, Short)
* '' The Oyster Princess'' (1919) as Conductor
* '' She and the Three'' (1922) as Der Hilfsregisseur
* '' When She Starts, Look Out'' (1926) as Ali ben Mokka
* ''Der goldene Schmetterling'' (''The Golden Butterfly'') (1926) as André Dubois, Ballettmeister
* '' The Young Man from the Ragtrade'' (1926) as Moritz Spiegel
* '' Countess Ironing-Maid'' (1926)
* '' The Prince of Pappenheim'' (1927) as Egon Fürst
* '' The Transformation of Dr. Bessel'' (1927) as Simche Regierer
* ''Majestät schneidet Bubiköpfe'' (1928)
* ''Anschluß um Mitternacht'' (''Call at Midnight'') (1929) as Emil
* ''Der Schlemihl'' (1931) as Hartwig
* ''Ein steinreicher Mann'' ('' A Tremendously Rich Man'') (1932) as Curt
* '' Hollywood Hotel'' (1937) as Dress Designer
* '' Tovarich'' (1937) as Alfonso
* '' Romance in the Dark'' (1938) as Von Hemisch
* '' Gold Diggers in Paris'' (1938) as Padrinsky
* '' The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse'' (1938) as Rabbit
* '' Boy Meets Girl'' (1938) as Dance Director (uncredited)
* '' Garden of the Moon'' (1938) as Maharajah of Sund
* '' The Great Waltz'' (1938) as Kienzl
* '' Hotel Imperial'' (1939) as Anton
* '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1939) as Student
* '' The Lady in Question'' (1940) as Henri Lurette
* '' Boom Town'' (1940) as Ferdie
* '' He Stayed for Breakfast'' (1940) as Comrade Tronavich
* ''Hullabaloo'' (1940) as Armand Francois
* '' Bitter Sweet'' (1940) as Ernst
* '' That Night in Rio'' (1941) as Salles
* '' Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941) as Bonbois
* '' Blue, White and Perfect'' (1942) as Friedrich Gerber, alias Nappy Dubois
* '' The Tuttles of Tahiti'' (1942) as Jensen
* ''My Gal Sal'' (1942) as De Rochemont
* '' Pacific Rendezvous'' (1942) as Kestrin
* '' Casablanca'' (1942) as Pickpocket
* '' Destroyer'' (1943) as Yasha (uncredited)
* ''Paris After Dark'' (1943) as Max (uncredited)
* '' Princess O'Rourke'' (1943) as Count Peter de Candome
* ''Swing Fever'' (1943) as Nick Sirocco
* ''The Desert Song'' (1943) as François
* '' Cover Girl'' (1944) as Chef at Danny McGuire's
* '' Gypsy Wildcat'' (1944) as Valdi
* '' Blonde Fever'' (1944) as Brillon
* '' The Spanish Main'' (1945) as Paree
* '' Saratoga Trunk'' (1945) as Augustin Haussy
* '' Jungle Flight'' (1947) as Pepe
* '' The Woman from Tangier'' (1948) as Parquit
* '' Arch of Triumph'' (1948) as Tattooed Waiter
* ''French Leave'' (1948) as Marcel
* '' The Woman in White'' (1948) as Louis
* '' Up in Central Park'' (1948) as Maitre d' (uncredited)
* '' Let's Live a Little'' (1948) as Chemist (uncredited)
* '' Caught'' (1949) as Franzi Kartos
* '' Kiss in the Dark'' (1949) as Hugo Schloss
* '' The Lovable Cheat'' (1949) as Count de la Brive
* '' The Great Sinner'' (1949) as Jeweler / Money Lender
* '' Oh, You Beautiful Doll'' (1949) as Zaltz (uncredited)
* '' Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey'' (1950) as Pierre
* '' Fortunes of Captain Blood'' (1950) as King Charles II
* ''Androklus und der Löwe'' (''Androcles and the Lion'') (1958, TV film) as Androklus
* '' Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti'' (1955–1960) as Johannes Puntila
* '' The Haunted Castle'' (1960) as Hugo
* ''Flüchtlingsgespräche'' (1964, TV film) as Ziffel
* ''Der eingebildete Kranke'' (1964, TV film) as Argan
* ' (''A Scoundrel's Honor'') (1966) as Emil
* ''Die hundertste Nacht'' (1966, TV film) as Iwakichi
* ''Bert Brecht vor dem McCarthy-Ausschuß'' (1966, TV film)
* ''Der Zauberberg'' (1968, TV film) as Naphta
* ''Amerika oder der Verschollene'' (1968, TV film) as Karl Roßmann's father
* ''Der Pott'' (1971, TV film) as Simon Norton
* ''Der trojanische Sessel'' (1971, TV film) as Franz Seider
* ''Strychnin und saure Drops'' (1974 TV film)
* ''Das Rentenspiel'' (1977, TV film) as Grandfather
* ''Das Idol von Mordassow'' (1979, TV film)
* ''Liebe, Tod und Heringshäppchen'' (1979, TV film) as Friedrich Schlick
* ''Die Alten kommen'' (1980, TV film)
* ''Wochenendgeschichten'' (1980, TV film)
* ''Bühne frei für Kolowitz'' (1980, TV film) as Benjamin Weiß
* ''Der Mond scheint auf Kylenamoe'' (1980, TV film)
* ''Gesucht wird... Drei Geschichten um nicht ganz ehrenwerte Herren'' (1980, TV film)
* ''Das Boot ist voll'' (1981) as Lazar Ostrowskij
* '' Flächenbrand'' (1981, TV film) as Bühler
* ''Der Schützling'' (1981, TV film) as Leiser
* ''Die feine englische Art: Täglich eine gute Tat'' (1982, TV film) as Lord Emsworth
* ''Die feine englische Art: Hundeglück'' (1982, TV film) as Lord Emsworth
* ''Die feine englische Art: Die Lady frißt'' (1982, TV film) as Lord Emsworth
* ''Die feine englische Art: Blut wird fließen'' (1982, TV film) as Lord Emsworth
* ''The Roaring Fifties'' (1983) (uncredited)
* '' Wings of Desire'' (1987) as Homer

References

Bibliography

*John Holmstrom, ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995'', Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, pp. 18–19.

External links

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Curt Bois biography
fro

* ttp://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=1166 Photographs of Curt Bois

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bois, Curt
1901 births
1991 deaths
20th-century German male actors
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
European Film Awards winners (people)
German expatriate male actors in the United States
German male film actors
German male silent film actors
Jewish German male actors
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Male actors from Berlin