JOSEPH SCHILDKRAUT

 JOSEPH SCHILDKRAUT - (3/22/1896 to 1/21/64)

Joseph Schildkraut was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Erna (née Weinstein) and stage actor Rudolph Schildkraut. His family was Jewish.

In 1910, he accompanied his father on his tour to the U.S. and returned to Europe in 1913. He began stage training with Max Reinhardt in Berlin shortly afterward, began his career on the stages of Germany and Austria, then made the transition to film. Schildkraut moved to the U.S. in 1920 and appeared in many Broadway productions. Among the plays in which he starred was a notable production of Peer Gynt.

Schildkraut received an Academy Awards for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role as Alfred Dreyfus in The Life of Emile Zola (1937).

Additional accolades came for playing the ambitious duc d'Orléans in the historical epic Marie Antoinette (1938), and he gave a notable performance as the villainous Nicolas Fouquet in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939).

Schildkraut is perhaps best remembered today for playing the role of Otto Frank in both the original stage production and film version of The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)*. He is also remembered for playing the role of Ferencz Vadas in The Shop Around the Corner (1940)*. Those two roles could not have been more different and are prime examples of his excellent work as a character actor..

Schildkraut died at his home in New York City of a heart attack. His father had died at the age of 68, also of a heart attack.

For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Schildkraut has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.