Occupation Film actorStage actor Name Fritz Spira | Years active 1910-1935 (film) Role Film actor | |
Movies The Third Squadron, Fairground People Children Camilla Spira, Steffie Spira Grandchildren Susanne Thaler, Thomas Ruschin Similar People Camilla Spira, Carl Froelich, Gunther Rittau, Richard Oswald, Hans Steinhoff | ||
Fritz Spira (1881–1943) was an Austrian stage and film actor. He appeared frequently in films during the silent and early sound eras. Spira played the role of the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef in the 1926 film The Third Squadron. Spira had been working in Germany before the Nazi takeover in 1933 compelled him to leave because of his Jewish background. He went first to Poland, then returned to his native Austria. Following the Anchluss he tried to leave, but was arrested. He eventually died in 1943 at the Ruma Concentration Camp in Vojvodina.
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Family
He was married to Lotte Spira from 1905-1934 and was the father of the actresses Camilla Spira and Steffie Spira. Camilla only survived the holocaust because her mother signed a statement swearing that Fritz was not Camilla's real father.