* 27.01.1901 in Katowice/ Kattowitz
† 13.07.1973 in Hamburg

[Deutsche Übersetzung]

Willy Fritsch was one of the most successful and popular stars in German film history.

Based in Berlin since 1912, he took acting lessons from a teacher of Max Reinhardt in 1920 and started his career with small engagements, e.g. at the Deutsche Theater Berlin.

From 1921 Fritsch also starred in silent films and had a first international success with the comedy „A Waltz Dream“ in 1925. This film already brought him huge popularity even beyond German borders in other European countries as well as in the USA. However, he turned down Hollywood offers due to his lack of language skills.

The actor’s final breakthrough came with leading roles in two films by Fritz Lang, „Spies“ (1928) and „Woman In The Moon“ (1929). The same year, Fritsch also starred in the first German talkie and spoke its first sentence: „I’m saving money for a horse“ („Melody of the Heart“, 1929).

By now being one of the most popular film stars of the late Weimar Republic, Willy Fritsch’s career peaked with the musical talkies of the early 1930s. Together with his film partner Lilian Harvey, he formed the first so-called „dream couple of German film“ in blockbusters such as „Three From The Filling Station“ (1930), „Congress Dances“ (1931) or „A Blonde Dream“ (1932). He was also successful with the performance of songs by composers like Werner Richard Heymann or Friedrich Hollander.

After the Nazis had come to power, the actor continued his career in Germany and starred in comedies such as Reinhold Schünzel’s courageous satire „Amphitryon“ (1935) or in „Lucky Kids“ (1936) whose soundtrack performed by Fritsch, „I Wish I Was A Chicken”, is still popular today.

When WW2 began in 1939, Fritsch was the leading actor of the first German colored motion picture „Women Are Better Diplomats“ alongside Marika Rökk. Following that, he often concentrated on comedies made in Austria, such as „Vienna Blood“ (1942, directed by Willy Forst) or „A Salzburg Comedy“ (1943) based on a novel by Erich Kastner. To avoid being sent to the front, the actor also appeared in the 1944 propaganda film „Young Eagles“.

After the war had come to end in 1945, Willy Fritsch and his family settled in Hamburg-Winterhude and later in Hamburg-Alsterdorf. The actor started his post-war career with a self-parody in the satire „Film Without Title” alongside Hildegard Knef in 1948 and also played leading roles in various film productions by Gyula Trebitsch’s Real-Film.

At the beginning of the 1950s, however, he put his activities mainly on popular box-office hits such as „The Heath Is Green“ (1951) or „When The White Lilacs Bloom Again“ (alongside Romy Schneider, 1953). After the passing of his wife Dinah Grace and more than 40 years in the limelight Fritsch retired from the film business with the motion picture „I Learned It From Father“ (1964) where he starred along with his son, the actor Thomas Fritsch.

Willy Fritsch spent the last years of his life withdrawn and died of a heart attack in 1973 . Since July 24th, 1973 he is resting at this place.

See DINAH GRACE