EntityQ182292· pop 57· linked from 633 articles

Paul Muni

Austrian-born American stage and film actor (1895-1967)

AI overview

Paul Muni was an Austrian-born American actor who had a long career in theater and film during the 20th century. He is remembered as an important figure in entertainment history, known for his work on stage and in Hollywood from the 1920s through the 1960s.

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Person

Born: 1895-09-22
Died: 1967-08-25

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Paul Muni (born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund, September 22, 1895 – August 25, 1967) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor. During the 1930s, he was considered the most prestigious actor at Warner Brothers studios, and one of the rare actors who was given the privilege of choosing which parts he wanted. His acting quality, usually…

Known for

Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood — (archive footage)2019
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood — James Allen (archive footage)2008
The Many Faces of Dracula — Self (archive footage)2000
Frank Capra's American Dream — Self (archive footage)1997
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — Self (archive footage)1975
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks — Self (archive footage)1973
Saints and Sinners — Samuel Foss1962
The Last Angry Man — Sam Abelman

Article

Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895 – August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor from Chicago. He started his acting career in the Yiddish theater and during the 1930s, he was considered one of the most prestigious actors at the Warner Bros. studio and was given the rare privilege of choosing his own parts.

Muni often played powerful characters, such as the lead role in Scarface (1932), and was known for his intense preparation for his parts, often immersing himself in the study of the real characters' traits and mannerisms. He was also highly skilled in makeup techniques, a talent that he had learned from his parents, who were also actors, and from his early years on stage with the Yiddish theater in Chicago. At the age of 12, he played the stage role of an 80-year-old man, and in the film Seven Faces, he played seven characters.