Conrad Veidt

Hans Walter Conrad "Conny" Veidt was born on January 22, 1893 in Berlin, Germany to middle class parents. His father was a strongly conservative civil servant who thought that actors were a drain on society while his mother was a far more sympathetic woman. Conrad Veidt was not always interested in acting, but instead was interested in becoming a doctor after witnessing the recovery of his father from a near fatal heart condition. However, Veidt managed to be 13th in his class of 13 which made him realize that he was not cut out for becoming a doctor.

After becoming a star at his school for his spectacular reading of the prologue of the schools' Christmas play, Conrad Veidt found his new calling, acting. Veidt studied acting, against his father's wishes and managed to become an extra at Max Reinhardt's Deutches Theatre for a season before he was shipped off to the eastern front of World War One.

Veidt was only on the front lines for a brief period of time before he came down with jaundice and was hospitalized. Instead of stay in the hospital, Veidt got permission to be a part of a front-line theatre troupe to amuse troops and boost morale. Veidt managed to become a star of the troupe and was called back to the Deutches Theatre as a featured player. While at the Deutches Theatre, many producers of films approached Veidt to offer him roles in films for considerable sums of money, compared to the income of a theatre actor. Finally, Veidt accepted the offers and became a film actor.

In many of the first films Veidt appeared in, he was typecast as a sinister villain. In one of Veidt's most famous roles as the somnambulist Cesare in "The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari" (1919), Veidt made great use of his movement, hands and face to set the bar for acting in expressionist films at the time. Veidt was also applauded for how he into character he got while making a film which provided a more authentic and emotional character on screen.

Veidt was also an international actor; in 1925 he starred in both a Swedish film and a French film. However, it was one of Veidt's more sinister roles as Ivan the Terrible in the German film Waxworks (1924) that got him noticed by famous Hollywood actor, John Barrymore. In 1926, Barrymore sent a telegram to Veidt, pleading Veidt to come to Hollywood and star in a movie with him. Veidt reluctantly went to Hollywood, but would only agree to a one-picture contract where he would play Louis IX in The Beloved Rogue (1927). After stellar reviews of his performance, Veidt decided to bring his entire family to the United States where he would look for more roles.

In role after role, Veidt was praised by critics for the way he moved across the screen and the way he expressed himself with his body (which can, in large extent, be attributed to his acting in expressionist films in his early film career). As films transitioned from silent to sound,