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Emil JanningsGerman actor, producer.
Date of Birth: 23.07.1884
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings was a German actor and producer. At the age of 16, he left home to become a sailor, and two years later, he made his professional stage debut. In 1906, he was invited to join the theater of Max Reinhardt and gained a solid position by the time he made his film debut in "Arme Eva" (Poor Eva, 1914), initially appearing in commercial films. From 1919 to 1923, he played a series of powerful, cunning, and "carnivorous" characters in films by E. Lubitsch and D. Buchowetzki, such as Louis XV in "Passion/Madame Du Barry" (1919), Henry VIII in "Deception/Anna Boleyn" (1920), Danton in "All For A Woman/Danton" (1921), Peter the Great in "Peter Der Grosse" (1923), and Nero in "Kamo Grideishi" (1924). Jannings' ability to penetrate the psychological essence of a character and express it on screen brought him success in a number of adaptations of classics, such as Dmitry in "The Brothers Karamazov" (1920), "Othello" (1922), "Tartuffe" (1926), and Mephistopheles in "Faust" (1926). From 1927 to 1928, he worked in Hollywood and received an Academy Award for his performances in "The Last Command" (1928) and "The Way of All Flesh" (1927).
Genre Versatility and Peak of Fame
It seemed that there were no genre boundaries for Jannings, and he was capable of playing any role. However, the peak of his fame is associated with three brilliant works: a Swiss porter in F. Murnau's "The Last Man" (1924), a circus artist in E. Dupont's "Variety" (1925), and a schoolteacher in J. Sternberg's "The Blue Angel" (1930). The tragedy of an ordinary person crushed by urban civilization in Murnau's film coexists with the collapse of a personality confronted with uncontrollable instincts in "Variety" and "The Blue Angel". The actor depicts the agony of the average German with such depth and theatrical force that his characters can be seen as the specters of the impending ominous changes awaiting Germany. However, unlike most of his colleagues, Jannings sided with Nazism, appeared in a number of propaganda films such as "Robert Koch, the Conqueror of Death" (1939) and "Uncle Kruger" (1941), received the title of "State Artist," and headed the company "Tobis". After the war, he was blacklisted and ended his life in solitude.
