Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt
Hans Walter Conrad Veidtwas a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Man Who Laughs, and, after being forced to migrate to Britain by the rise of Nazism in Germany, his English-speaking roles in The Thief of Bagdad, and, in Hollywood, Casablanca. After a successful career in German silent film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of Ufa, he left Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth22 January 1893
CityBerlin, Germany
CountryGermany
I can see now that I should have been strong enough to conquer myself.
I was appalled at the amount of study necessary in order to qualify in medicine, and gradually my desire was blunted by a keener - and secret - wish to become an actor.
Nothing seems to come up to your expectations. But nothing I had heard about Hollywood was enough.
No, I was not born with a monocle in my eye.
It is precisely as though I were possessed by some other spirit when I enter on a new task of acting, as though something within me presses a switch and my own consciousness merges into some other, greater, more vital being.
After my mother died, I found, a little book of hers which recorded everything I had ever done, how I had done it, and how proud she was of her son Conrad.
There must have been something in my nature - I believe, with all my heart, that I have conquered it now - which prevented me from being perfectly happy or making a woman perfectly happy.
Have you ever walked late at night through a forest when you are first in love?
An actor remembers his first piece of published praise. It is written on his heart.
I was never a villain on the stage. I always played strong, sympathetic types. My first stage role with a speaking part, believe it or not, was as a priest. It wasn't until I began acting in films that the producers and directors saw me primarily as a bizarre villain.
I used to think then that I was Bohemian, but I know now that I am not. I prefer order and precision to untidiness and looseness.
For me, half the joy of achieving has been the struggle and the fight, the pitting myself against the world and all its competition - and winning.
In the middle of my third Hollywood picture The Magician, the earthquake hit Hollywood. Not the real earthquake. Just the talkies.
The one thing I look for everywhere is beauty. I find it everywhere, and in almost every person. A lovely painting, a good book, or music moves me. It has a life of its own. But I get just as satisfying a thrill when I look at streets wet with rain or see a typist's quick fingers traveling with precision over her keyboard.