Werner Krauss

Born June 23, 1884, in Gestungshausen; died Oct. 20, 1959, in Vienna. German actor of stage and screen.

Krauss made his theatrical debut in 1904; he performed in the Berlin German Theater and the Vienna Burgtheater. He performed for the most part in the classics, as well as in plays by F. Wedekind and G. Hauptmann. His first film role was Dapertutto (Tales of Hoffman, 1916). He won acclaim for his performances in the expressionist films The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1919) and Waxworks (1924), as well as in The Joyless Lane (1925) and Mister Tartuffe (1926). His work was full of profound contradictions: a character actor and master of transformation who created colorful stereotypes, he was at the same time drawn toward grotesque-pathological portrayals. During the fascist dictatorship in Germany he appeared in the anti-Semitic film Jew Süss (1940). In the second half of the 1950’s he performed in West Berlin theaters.