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person_profile-Felix Bressart

Felix Bressart Died at age: 57

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Felix Bressart

Date of Birth:

Mar 02, 1892

Country of birth:

Russia]

Died:

Mar 17, 1949

Biography of

Felix Bressart

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

    Felix Bressart (pronounced "BRESS-ert") was born in East Prussia, Germany (now part of Russia) and was already a very experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1928. He started off as a supporting actor, e.g. as the Bailiff in the box-office hit Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930), but had soon established himself in leading roles of minor movies. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Jewish-born Bressart had to leave Germany and continued his career in German-speaking movies in Austria, where Jewish artists were still relatively safe. After no fewer than 30 films in eight years, he emigrated to the United States.

    One of Bressart's former European colleagues was Joe Pasternak, now a successful Hollywood producer. Bressart's first American film was Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), a vehicle for Universal Pictures' top attraction, Deanna Durbin. Pasternak also selected the reliable Bressart to perform in a screen test opposite Pasternak's newest discovery, Gloria Jean. The influential 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 Die Drei von der Tankstelle).

    Bressart scored a great success in Lubitsch's Ninotchka, produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM signed Bressart to a studio contract in 1939. Most of his MGM work consisted of featured roles in major films like Edison, the Man.

    He combined his mildly inflected East European accent with a soft-spoken delivery to create kindly, friendly characters, as in Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be, in which he sensitively recites Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from The Merchant of Venice. Lubitsch also directed Bressart to similar effect in The Shop Around the Corner.

    Bressart soon became a popular character actor in films like Blossoms in the Dust (1941), The Seventh Cross (1944), and Without Love (1945). Perhaps his largest role was in RKO Radio Pictures' "B" musical comedy Ding Dong Williams, filmed in 1945. Bressart, billed third, played the bemused supervisor of a movie studio's music department, and appeared in formal wear to conduct Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu."

    After almost 40 Hollywood pictures, Felix Bressart suddenly died of leukemia at the age of 57. His last film was My Friend Irma (1949), the movie version of a popular radio show. Bressart died during production, forcing the producers to finish the film with Hans Conried. In the final film, Conried speaks throughout, but Bressart is still seen in the long shots.

    Description above from the Wikipedia article Felix Bressart, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.    

Photos of

Felix Bressart

Photos ( 2 Photos

Filmography of

Felix Bressart

Found 48 Movies in total

Take One False Step

Morris Avrum ( Actor )

... 1949

Portrait of Jennie

Pete ( Actor )

... 1948

A Song Is Born

Professor Gerkikoff ( Actor )

... 1948

I've Always Loved You

Frederick Hassman ( Actor )

... 1946

Her Sister's Secret

Pepe ( Actor )

... 1946

The Thrill of Brazil

Ludwig Kriegspiel ( Actor )

... 1946

Ding Dong Williams

Hugo Meyerheld ( Actor )

... 1946

Dangerous Partners

Professor Budlow ( Actor )

... 1945

Without Love

Prof. Ginza ( Actor )

... 1945

Blonde Fever

Johnny ( Actor )

... 1944

Greenwich Village

Hofer ( Actor )

... 1944

The Seventh Cross

Poldi Schlamm ( Actor )

... 1944

Song of Russia

Petrov ( Actor )

... 1944

Above Suspicion

Mr. A. Werner ( Actor )

... 1943

Three Hearts for Julia

Anton Ottoway ( Actor )

... 1943

Iceland

Papa Jonsdottir ( Actor )

... 1942

Crossroads

Dr. Andre Tessier ( Actor )

... 1942

To Be or Not to Be

Greenberg ( Actor )

... 1942

Mr. and Mrs. North

Arthur Talbot ( Actor )

... 1942

Kathleen

Mr. Schoner ( Actor )

... 1941

Married Bachelor

Professor Milic ( Actor )

... 1941

Blossoms in the Dust

Dr. Max Breslar ( Actor )

... 1941

Ziegfeld Girl

Mischa ( Actor )

... 1941

Comrade X

Igor Yahupitz / Vanya ( Actor )

... 1940

Bitter Sweet

Max ( Actor )

... 1940

Escape

Fritz Keller ( Actor )

... 1940

Third Finger, Left Hand

August "Gussie" Winkel ( Actor )

... 1940

Edison, the Man

Michael Simon ( Actor )

... 1940

It All Came True

The Great Boldini ( Actor )

... 1940

The Shop Around the Corner

Pirovitch ( Actor )

... 1940

Swanee River

Henry Kleber ( Actor )

... 1939

Ninotchka

Comrade Buljanoff ( Actor )

... 1939

Bridal Suite

Maxl ( Actor )

... 1939

Three Smart Girls Grow Up

Music Teacher ( Actor )

... 1939

... 1936

Ball at the Savoy

Birowitsch ( Actor )

... 1935

Everything for the Company

Philipp Sonndorfer ( Actor )

... 1935

Peter

Grandfather ( Actor )

... 1934

The Lucky Top Hat

Gottfried Jonathan Bankbeamter ( Actor )

... 1932

Holzapfel Knows Everything

Johannes Georg Holzapfel ( Actor )

... 1932

Excursion into Life

Hirsekorn - Schauspieler und Chauffeur ( Actor )

... 1931

No More Love

Jean ( Actor )

... 1931

Terror of the Garrison

Musketier Kulicke ( Actor )

... 1931

The Private Secretary

Bankdiener Hasel ( Actor )

... 1931

Three Days in the Guardhouse

Franz Nowotni ( Actor )

... 1930

The Three from the Filling Station

Gerichtsvollzieher ( Actor )

... 1930

The Tender Relatives

Onkel Emil ( Actor )

... 1930

Liebe im Kuhstall

Der Gerichtsvollzieher ( Actor )

... 1928