Felix Bressart

Felix Bressart (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1949) was a German-American actor of stage and screen.

Life and career

Bressart (pronounced "BRESS-ert") was born in East Prussia, Germany (now part of Russia). His acting debut came in 1914 as Malvolio in "Twelfth Night," and he went on to act in Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. He was an experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1927. He began as a supporting actor, for example as the Bailiff in the box-office hit '' Die Drei von der Tankstelle'' (1930), but soon established himself in leading roles of minor movies. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the Jewish Bressart left Germany and continued his career in German-speaking movies in Austria, where Jewish artists were still relatively safe. After acting in forty German films, he emigrated to the United States in 1936.

One of Bressart's former European colleagues was Joe Pasternak, who had become a Hollywood producer. Bressart's first American film was ''Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' (1939), a vehicle for the Universal Pictures' star, Deanna Durbin. Pasternak chose Bressart to perform in a screen test opposite Pasternak's newest discovery, Gloria Jean. The German community in Hollywood helped to establish Bressart in America, as his earliest American movies were directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Henry Koster, and Wilhelm Thiele, director of '' The Three from the Filling Station'' (originally ''Die Drei von der Tankstelle'', 1930), a film which features Bressart in a small role.

Bressart scored a great success in Lubitsch's ''Ninotchka'' (1939), as one of the Soviet emissaries followed by the lead character portrayed by Greta Garbo, to Paris. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, the studio signed Bressart as a contract player. Most of his MGM work consisted of featured supporting roles in major films including ''Edison, the Man'', ''Comrade X'' and Lubitsch's ''The Shop Around the Corner'', all released in 1940.

He combined his mildly inflected East European accent with a soft-spoken delivery to create kindly, sympathetic characters, as in Lubitsch's ''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942), in which he sensitively recites Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from ''The Merchant of Venice''.

Other films Bressart appeared in include ''Blossoms in the Dust'' (1941), ''Three Hearts for Julia'' (1943), ''The Seventh Cross'' (1944), and '' Without Love'' (1945). Perhaps his largest role was in an RKO "B" musical comedy ''Ding Dong Williams'', in 1945. Bressart, billed third, played the bemused supervisor of a movie studio's music department, and appeared in formal wear to conduct an orchestral version of Chopin's ''Fantaisie-Impromptu''.

After almost 40 Hollywood pictures, Felix Bressart suddenly died of leukemia at the age of 57. His last film was to be ''My Friend Irma'' (1949), the movie version of a popular radio show. Bressart died during production, forcing the studio to re-shoot his completed scenes with Hans Conried. In the finished film, Bressart is still seen in the long shots.

Complete filmography

German language films

*''Liebe im Kuhstall'' (''Love in the Cowshed'') (1928) - Der Gerichtsvollzieher
*'' Es gibt eine Frau, die dich niemals vergißt'' (1930)
*''Der Sohn der weißen Berge'' (''The Son of the White Mountain'') (1930) - Jailer
*' (1930, Short) - Der Untermieter
*''Die zärtlichen Verwandten'' (''The Tender Relatives'') (1930) - Onkel Emil
*'' Die Drei von der Tankstelle'' (1930) - Gerichtsvollzieher / Bailiff
*''Der keusche Josef'' ('' Josef the Chaste'') (1930) - Eizes, ihr Faktotum
*''Das alte Lied'' ('' The Old Song'') (1930) - Jacques
*''Drei Tage Mittelarrest'' (''Three Days Confined to Barracks'') (1930) - Franz Nowotni, Fuesilier
*''Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du'' (1930) - Richard
*''Die Privatsekretärin'' (''The Private Secretary'') (1931) - Bankdiener Hasel
*''Der wahre Jakob'' (''The True Jacob'') (1931) - Böcklein
*''Der Schrecken der Garnison'' (''Terror of the Garrison'') (1931) - Musketier Kulicke
*''Nie wieder Liebe!'' (''No More Love'') (1931) - Jean
*' (1931) - Major Fröschen
*''Ausflug ins Leben'' (1931) - Hirsekorn - Schauspieler und Chauffeur
*'' Kameradschaft'' (''Comradeship'') (1931) - Café Doorman (uncredited)
*''Der Herr Bürovorsteher'' (''The Office Manager'') (1931) - Joachim Reißnagel
*''Holzapfel weiß alles'' (''Holzapfel Knows Everything'') (1932) - Johannes Georg Holzapfel
*''Der Glückszylinder'' (''The Magic Top Hat'') (1932) - Gottfried Jonathan Bankbeamter
*''...und wer küßt mich?'' ('' And Who Is Kissing Me?'') (1933) - Direktor Ritter
*''Wie d'Warret würkt'' (1933) - Herr Schramek
*''C'était un musicien'' (1933) - Le baron Vandernyff
*''Salto in die Seligkeit'' (''Leap into Bliss'') (1933) - Kriegel, Geheimdetektiv
*''Peter'' (1934) - Her grandfather
* '' Ball at the Savoy'' (1935) - Birowitsch, der Sekretär
*''Alles für die Firma'' (1935) - Philipp Sonndorfer
*''Viereinhalb Musketiere'' (1935) - Professor Volksmann
*''Heut' ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben'' (1935) - Max Kaspar

English language films

*''Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' (1939) - Music Teacher
*''Bridal Suite'' (1939) - Maxl
*''Ninotchka'' (1939) - Comrade Buljanoff
*'' Swanee River'' (1939) - Henry Kleber
*''The Shop Around the Corner'' (1940) - Pirovitch
*''It All Came True'' (1940) - The Great Boldini
*''Edison, the Man'' (1940) - Michael Simon
*'' Third Finger, Left Hand'' (1940) - August Winkel
*''Escape'' (1940) - Fritz Keller
*'' Bitter Sweet'' (1940) - Max
*''Comrade X'' (1940) - Vanya
*''Ziegfeld Girl'' (1941) - Mischa
*''Blossoms in the Dust'' (1941) - Dr. Max Breslar
*''Married Bachelor'' (1941) - Professor Ladislaus Milic
*'' Kathleen'' (1941) - Mr. Schoner
*''Mr. and Mrs. North'' (1942) - Arthur Talbot
*''To Be or Not to Be'' (1942) - Greenberg
*''Crossroads'' (1942) - Dr. Andre Tessier
*''Iceland'' (1942) - Papa Jonsdottir
*''Three Hearts for Julia'' (1943) - Anton Ottoway
*'' Above Suspicion'' (1943) - Mr. A. Werner
*''Don't Be a Sucker'' (1943, Short) - Anti-Nazi Teacher (uncredited)
*''Song of Russia'' (1944) - Petrov
*''The Seventh Cross'' (1944) - Poldi Schlamm
*''Greenwich Village'' (1944) - Hofer
*'' Blonde Fever'' (1944) - Johnny
*''Secrets in the Dark'' (1944, Short)
*'' Without Love'' (1945) - Prof. Ginza
*''Dangerous Partners'' (1945) - Prof. Roland Budlow
*''Ding Dong Williams'' (1946) - Hugo Meyerheld
*'' The Thrill of Brazil'' (1946) - Ludwig Kriegspiel
*'' Her Sister's Secret'' (1946) - Pepe - New Orleans Cafe Owner
*''I've Always Loved You'' (1946) - Frederick Hassman
*''A Song Is Born'' (1948) - Professor Gerkikoff
*''Portrait of Jennie'' (1948) - Pete
*''Take One False Step'' (1949) - Professor Morris Avrum (final film role)

References

External links

*
Photographs and literature

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bressart, Felix
1892 births
1949 deaths
People from East Prussia
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Deaths from leukemia
Deaths from cancer in California
Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
German male stage actors
German male film actors
20th-century German male actors