Conrad Veidt

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt 22 January 1893 3 April 1943 was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as Different from the Others 1919 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1920 and The Man Who Laughs 1928 After a successful career in German silent film where he was one of the bestpaid stars of Ufa he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the Nazis came to power They settled in Britain where he participated in a number of films including The Thief of Bagdad 1940 before emigrating to the United States around 1941 which lead to him having a supporting role in Casablanca 1942 From 1916 until his death Veidt appeared in more than 100 films One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wienes The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1920 a classic of German Expressionist cinema with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover His starring role in The Man Who Laughs 1928 as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin provided the visual inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker created in 1940 by Bill Finger Veidt also starred in other silent horror films such as The Hands of Orlac 1924 another film directed by Robert Wiene The Student of Prague 1926 and Waxworks 1924 where he played Ivan the Terrible Veidt also appeared in Magnus Hirschfelds film Anders als die Andern Different from the Others 1919 one of the first films to sympathetically portray homosexuality although the characters in it do not end up happily He had a leading role in Germanys first talking picture Das Land ohne Frauen Land Without Women 1929 He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s and made a few films but the advent of talking pictures and his difficulty with speaking English led him to return to Germany During this period he lent his expertise to tutoring aspiring performers one of whom was the later American character actress Lisa Golm