Otto Gebühr

Life

Born in Kettwig (today part of Essen) in the Rhine Province the son of a merchant, Gebühr attended the gymnasium secondary school in Cologne and completed a commercial training. Alongside he took drama lessons and began his acting career at the Görlitz city theatre. In 1898 he joined the ensemble of the Königliches Hoftheater Dresden and from 1908 performed at the Lessing Theater in Berlin. As a World War I volunteer he achieved the rank of a Lieutenant in the German Army.

After the war he worked with director Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. At the same time he obtained his first film performances with the help of his colleague Paul Wegener. He found the role of his lifetime in 1919, acting as King Frederick II in the historical drama Die Tänzerin Barberina directed by Carl Boese, modeled on the life of ballerina Barbara Campanini (1721–1799). The first part of the UFA Fridericus Rex tetralogy starring Otto Gebühr playing the title role was released in 1922, followed by several further so-called "Fridericus-Rex-movies". The series was heavily criticized by contemporaries for supporting a widespread negative stance towards the Weimar Republic democracy and the yearning for a leader in waiting. Gebühr continued his performances in the Nazi period from 1933 onwards, last performing in The Great King (German: Der Große König), a 1942 German wartime propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan referring to the historic Miracle of the House of Brandenburg, which received the rare "Film of the Nation" distinction.

Gebühr died at Wiesbaden in 1954. His final film, Die Blonde Frau des Maharadscha, was released eight years after his death.

Selected filmography

Evening – Night – Morning (1920)

The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)

The Fear of Women (1921)

The Raft of the Dead (1921)

William Tell (1923)

The New Land (1924)

Passion (1925)

The Fallen (1926)

The Old Fritz (1928)

The Chaste Coquette (1929)

Waterloo (1929)

Scapa Flow (1930)

Women for Golden Hill (1938)

Nanon (1938)

The Golden Spider (1943)

And the Heavens Above Us (1947)

Dr. Holl (1951)

When the Evening Bells Ring (1951)

Sensation in San Remo (1951)

Stars Over Colombo (1953)

Father Is Being Stupid (1953)

Sauerbruch – Das war mein Leben (1954)

Rose-Girl Resli (1954)

Films with Otto Gebühr as Frederick the Great

1920: Die Tänzerin Barbarina - director: Carl Boese

1921–23: Fridericus Rex – director: Arzén von Cserépy

Teil 1 - Sturm und Drang Teil 2 - Vater und Sohn Teil 3 - Sanssouci Teil 4 - Schicksalswende

The Mill at Sanssouci (1926) – director: Siegfried Philippi

1928: Der alte Fritz – 1. Teil Friede – director: Gerhard Lamprecht

1928: Der alte Fritz – 2. Teil Ausklang – director: Gerhard Lamprecht

1930: Das Flötenkonzert von Sanssouci – director: Gustav Ucicky

1932: Die Tänzerin von Sans Souci – director: Friedrich Zelnik

1933: Der Choral von Leuthen – director: Carl Froelich

1936. Heiteres und Ernstes um den großen König - director: Phil Jutzi

1936: Fridericus – director: Johannes Meyer

1937: Das schöne Fräulein Schragg – director: Hans Deppe

1942: Der große König – director: Veit Harlan