Anton Walbrook

After leaving Nazi Germany in 1936, the actor now known as Anton Walbrook settled in Britain, where he starred in lavish biopics of Queen Victoria as well as Dangerous Moonlight and Gaslight. Despite great popularity and a prolific career, Walbrook's persona had an aura of mystery. This is the first full-length biography of the star.

«In this first Walbrook biography, Downs perfectly captures the private story and the public persona of a greatly underexplored performer, combining facts, such as when Walbrook first obtained his trademark moustache, with deeper textual analysis of his screen work. An excellent read for any fans of Walbrook, German cinema, film stars or movies in general.» (Gillian Kelly, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 42.1, 2022) «Few leading actors of classic cinema remain as enigmatic as Anton Walbrook, the subject of this very readable, frank and thoughtful biography. Despite Walbrook's indelible performances in films such as the original Gaslight (1940), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), The Red Shoes (1948) and La Ronde (1950), this is his first full-length biography, which makes it all the more welcome. There is much to discover in these pages about the Viennese-born star of German and British cinema with the ability to ooze charm or villainy at will, sometimes in the same breath.» (Pamela Hutchinson, Sight and Sound, June 2021) «James Downs presents a fascinating and meticulously researched biography of a charming and darkly beguiling star who deserves our attention. It is enriched by archival evidence and images that illuminate Walbrook's work as well as his equally intriguing, but carefully sequestered, private life; all refracted through his experience of exile.» (Professor Michael Williams, University of Southampton) «It is often difficult to separate the elements of personal life and dramatic performance that create the star persona, but that of the stage and screen actor Anton Walbrook presents a unique and fascinating challenge. In his richly researched biography, James Downs brings a scholar's authority and a fan's enthusiasm to his subject, illuminating not only the career of one of British cinema's most reserved stars, but the political and production background of his stage, screen and television performances in the UK and Germany.» (Mandy Merck, author of Cinema's Melodramatic Celebrity: Film, Fame and Personal Worth, 2020) Viennese-born actor Adolf Wohlbrück enjoyed huge success on both stage and screen in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, becoming one of the first truly international stars. After leaving Nazi Germany for Hollywood in 1936, he changed his name to Anton Walbrook and then settled in Britain, where he won filmgoers' hearts with his portrayal of Prince Albert in two lavish biopics of Queen Victoria. Further film success followed with Dangerous Moonlight and Gaslight, several collaborations with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger including his striking performance as Lermontov in The Red Shoes and later work with Max Ophuls and Otto Preminger. Despite great popularity and a prolific career of some forty films, alongside theatre, radio and television work, Walbrook was an intensely private individual who kept much of his personal life hidden from view. His reticence created an aura of mystery and «otherness» about him, which coloured both his acting performances and the way he was perceived by the public an image that was reinforced in Britain by his continental background. Remarkably, this is the first full-length biography of Walbrook, drawing on over a decade of extensive archival research to document his life and acting career.

Autorentext
Dr James Downs is an archivist in the University of Exeter s Special Collections Department, also home to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, where he previously worked for almost a decade. He has written and presented conference papers about Walbrook on several occasions as well as being interviewed at the actor s grave for the «Life and Death in Hampstead Sound Trail» and curating the 2013 exhibition «Anton Walbrook Star and Enigma.» In addition to teaching film adaptation and cataloguing archival material relating to other German émigrés, he has written two books and over thirty articles on a range of topics relating to the history of film and photography, visual culture and religious history, and since 2018 he has been the editor of the magazine Photographica World.

Inhalt
List of Illustrations - Introduction and Acknowledgements - Wohlbrück - Circuses, Cloisters and Barbed Wire: Early Years, 1896-1919 - 'I suppose one doesn't count as a human being without a uniform.' Stage, Silence and Sound, 1920-1932 - 'You underestimate the lion.' Stardom and Society, 1933-1934 - 'Sentimental Dreamer ... one cannot change one's own skin.' Filmmaking under the New Regime, 1934-1935 - 'Will take the next ship ... Useless to stop us.' Leaving Germany for Hollywood, 1935-1936 - Walbrook - 'How can one live happily in a country that's so difficult to get to?' The Exile Arrives in England, 1937-1938 - 'I want to know more about the man!' British Stage and Screen, 1939-1940 - 'You call us brothers.' Europe, the USA and International Relations, 1941-1942 - 'This is not a Gentleman's War.' Playing 'the Good German', 1943-1945 - 'Time rushes by, love rushes by, life rushes by ...' War, Peace and Postwar Identities, 1946-1949 - Life as Movement - 'We're in the past. I adore the past.' Circles and Roundabouts, 1950-1951 - 'Everybody's wearing masks.' Myths of Mitteleuropa, 1952-1955 - 'Have you never thought of staying? Of resting? Settling down for a while?' Saints and Sinners, 1955-1957 - 'The last chapter of my life has been written: a self-parody, naturally, with an ending like a third-rate kitsch operetta.' First Steps on the Small Screen, 1958-1966 - Song at Twilight: Final Performance, Death and Legacy - Appendices - Filmography - Theatre Performances - Discography - Bibliography - Index.

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