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Emil Jannings

German actor (1884-1950)

AI overview

Emil Jannings was a German actor who lived from 1884 to 1950 and became one of the most prominent performers of his era. He is historically significant as a major figure in German cinema during the silent film period, though his legacy is complicated by his later involvement with Nazi Germany.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 1884-07-23
Died: 1950-01-02
Works: 1

Top works

Mein Leben

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Rorschach, Switzerland

Emil Jannings (1884–1950) was a German actor, the first to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Between 1926 and 1929, he worked in Hollywood. Upon returning to Germany, he sympathized with the Nazi regime and was one of the advisors to Universum Film-Aktiengesellschaft (UFA), the film studios controlled by Goebbels as a propaganda weapon. With the end of World War II and Germany's defeat, his…

Known for

Hitler's Hollywood — Self - Actor (archive footage)2017
100 Years of the UFA — Self - Actor (archive footage)2017
Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films — Himself (archive footage)2011
The Making of 'The Last Laugh' — Hotelportier (archive footage)2003
Los 5 Faust de F. W. Murnau — Himself / Mephisto (archive footage)2002
The Oscars1953

Article

Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz; 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss-born German actor who was popular in Hollywood films in the 1920s. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for starring in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. Jannings remains the only German ever to win in that category.

He is best known for his films with F. W. Murnau and Josef von Sternberg, including 1930's The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel), with Marlene Dietrich. The Blue Angel was meant as a vehicle for Jannings to secure a place for himself in the new medium of sound film, but he was ultimately overshadowed by Dietrich. Jannings went on to leading roles in State Films (Staatsauftragsfilme) in Nazi Germany.