Felix Bressart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Felix Bressart (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1949) was a German-American actor of stage and screen. Felix Bressart (pronounced "BRESS-ert") was born in East Prussia, Germany (now part of Russia) and was already a very experienced stage actor when he had his film debut in 1928. He started off as a supporting actor, e.g. as the Bailiff in the box-office hit Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930), but had soon established himself in leading roles of minor movies. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Jewish-born Bressart had to leave Germany and continued his career in German-speaking movies in Austria, where Jewish artists were still relatively safe. After no fewer than 30 films in eight years, he emigrated to the United States. One of Bressart's former European colleagues was Joe Pasternak, now a successful Hollywood producer. Bressart's first American film was Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), a vehicle for Universal Pictures' top attraction, Deanna Durbin. Pasternak also selected the reliable Bressart to perform in a screen test opposite Pasternak's newest discovery, Gloria Jean. The influential German community in Hollywood helped to establish Bressart in America, as his earliest American movies were directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Henry Koster, and Wilhelm Thiele (director of Die Drei von der Tankstelle). Bressart scored a great success in Lubitsch's Ninotchka, produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM signed Bressart to a studio contract in 1939. Most of his MGM work consisted of featured roles in major films like Edison, the Man. He combined his mildly inflected East European accent with a soft-spoken delivery to create kindly, friendly characters, as in Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be, in which he sensitively recites Shylock's famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech from The Merchant of Venice. Lubitsch also directed Bressart to similar effect in The Shop Around the Corner. Bressart soon became a popular character actor in films like Blossoms in the Dust (1941), The Seventh Cross (1944), and Without Love (1945). Perhaps his largest role was in RKO Radio Pictures' "B" musical comedy Ding Dong Williams, filmed in 1945. Bressart, billed third, played the bemused supervisor of a movie studio's music department, and appeared in formal wear to conduct Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu." After almost 40 Hollywood pictures, Felix Bressart suddenly died of leukemia at the age of 57. His last film was My Friend Irma (1949), the movie version of a popular radio show. Bressart died during production, forcing the producers to finish the film with Hans Conried. In the final film, Conried speaks throughout, but Bressart is still seen in the long shots. Description above from the Wikipedia article Felix Bressart, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.    

Cast

To Be or Not to Be

(Greenberg)

The Three from the Filling Station

(Gerichtsvollzieher)

The fight with the dragon or: The tragedy of the lodger

Ninotchka

(Comrade Buljanoff)

The Shop Around the Corner

(Pirovitch)

Take One False Step

(Professor Morris Avrum)

Comrade X

(Igor Yahupitz / Vanya)

Above Suspicion

(Mr. A. Werner)

Crossroads

(Dr. Andre Tessier)

Edison, the Man

(Michael Simon)

It All Came True

(The Great Boldini)

Third Finger, Left Hand

(August "Gussie" Winkel)

Blossoms in the Dust

(Dr. Max Breslar)

The Seventh Cross

(Poldi Schlamm)

Escape

(Fritz Keller)

Dangerous Partners

(Professor Budlow)

Blonde Fever

(Johnny)

Swanee River

(Henry Kleber)

I've Always Loved You

(Frederick Hassman)

Peter

(Grandfather)

Wie d'Warret würkt

(Mr. Schramek)

Bitter Sweet

(Max)

Married Bachelor

(Professor Milic)

Bridal Suite

(Maxl)

No More Love

(Jean)

Terror of the Garrison

(Musketier Kulicke)

The Lucky Top Hat

(Gottfried Jonathan Bankbeamter)

The Office Manager

(Joachim Reißnagel)

Ding Dong Williams

(Hugo Meyerheld)

Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du

(Richard)

Die zärtlichen Verwandten

(Onkel Emil)

Three Hearts for Julia

(Anton Ottoway)

Excursion into Life

(Hirsekorn - Schauspieler und Chauffeur)

Ziegfeld Girl

(Mischa)

Her Sister's Secret

(Pepe)

There is a woman who will never forget you

Everything for the Company

(Philipp Sonndorfer)

Fanfare about love

(Major Fröschen)

Kathleen

(Mr. Schoner)

Three Smart Girls Grow Up

(Music Teacher)

Three days of middle arrest

(Franz Nowotni)

Heut' ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben

(Max Kaspar)

Liebe im Kuhstall

(Der Gerichtsvollzieher)

True Jacob

(Böcklein)

Private Secretary

(Bankdiener Hasel)

Song of Russia

(Petrov)

Greenwich Village

(Hofer)

Don't Be a Sucker!

(Anti-Nazi Teacher)

The Thrill of Brazil

(Ludwig Kriegspiel)

...und wer küßt mich?

(Direktor Ritter)

Without Love

(Prof. Ginza)

Iceland

(Papa Jonsdottir)

Salto in die Seligkeit

(Kriegel, Geheimdetektiv)

A Song Is Born

(Professor Gerkikoff)

Old Song

(Jacques)

Portrait of Jennie

(Pete)

C'était un musicien

(Baron Vandernyff)

Visul lui Tanase

(star)

Holzapfel Knows Everything

(Johannes Georg Holzapfel)

Four and a Half Musketeers

(Professor Volksmann)

Ball at the Savoy

(Birowitsch)

Mr. and Mrs. North

(Arthur Talbot)