Emil Jannings

Emil Jannings (1884-1950), Swiss-born Austrian actor of film and theatre. Jannings was born Theodor Emil Janenz in Rorschach, Switzerland, on July 23, 1884. Having begun acting at the age of ten, he first appeared in films in 1914. While he continued his stage career, mainly with the producer Max Reinhardt, he acted in films by such notable directors as Ernst Lubitsch and F. W. Murnau, before going to Hollywood in 1926. He was the first winner of the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Actor for his performances in Victor Fleming's The Way of All Flesh (1927) and The Last Command (1928) by Josef von Sternberg, but returned to Germany after his incomprehensible English dialogue was cut from Lewis Milestone's Betrayal (1929). His next major role was as the unworldly schoolmaster seduced by a singer, played by Marlene Dietrich, in Sternberg's first sound film, Der Blaue Engel (1930; The Blue Angel).

Jannings made fewer appearances on stage or screen after 1930. His sympathy with the Nazi Party brought him membership of the board of the Universum Film-Aktiengesellschaft (UFA) film studios in 1940 and a loss of reputation after the party's defeat. In 1945 he retired to Strobl, Austria, where he died on January 2, 1950.