Francis Lederer
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- November 5, 1899
- Died
- May 25, 2000 (aged 100)
- Birthplace
- Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 – May 25, 2000) was a Czech-born film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was František Lederer. Lederer's first American movies were Man of Two Worlds (1934), Romance in Manhattan (1934), with Ginger Rogers, The Gay Deception (1935), with Frances Dee, and One Rainy Afternoon (1936). He was cast as the lead with Katharine Hepburn in the 1935 film Break of Hearts, but the producers replaced him with Charles Boyer. It was Irving Thalberg's plan to make Lederer "the biggest star in Hollywood" but the death of Thalberg ended this possibility. Although he continued to play leads occasionally – notably when he was a playboy in Mitchell Leisen's Midnight with Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore in 1939 – in the late 1930s Lederer began to expand his character parts, even playing villains. Edward G. Robinson praised Lederer's performance as a German American Bundist in Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, and he earned plaudits for his portrayal of a fascist in The Man I Married (1940) with Joan Bennett. He also played Count Dracula for The Return of Dracula in 1958. Throughout his career, Lederer, who studied with Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City, continued to take stage acting seriously, and he performed often both in New York and elsewhere. He appeared in stage productions of Golden Boy (1937), Seventh Heaven (1939), No Time for Comedy (1939), in which he replaced Laurence Olivier, The Play's the Thing (1942), A Doll's House (1944), Arms and the Man (1950), The Sleeping Prince (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1958). Although he took a break from making films in 1941, in order to concentrate on his stage work, he returned to the silver screen in 1944, appearing in Voice in the Wind and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and in films such as Jean Renoir's The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Million Dollar Weekend (1948). He took another break from Hollywood in 1950, after making Surrender (1950), and returned in 1956 with Lisbon and the light comedy The Ambassador's Daughter. His final film appearance was in Terror Is a Man in 1959. During the 1950s, he served as honorary mayor of Canoga Park. He would continue to make television appearances for the next 10 years in such shows as Sally, The Untouchables, Ben Casey, Blue Light, Mission: Impossible and That Girl. His final television appearance occurred in a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery called "The Devil Is Not Mocked". In it, he reprised his role as Dracula from The Return of Dracula.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
A Century of Science Fiction
Movie · as Self
Dracula in the Movies
Movie · as (archive footage)
The Other Eye
Movie · as Self
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Movie · as Count Dracula (archive footage)
Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
Movie · as Self - Interviewee
Film Emigration from Nazi Germany
TV · as Self · 5 eps
Night Gallery
TV · 1 ep
That Girl
TV · as Vittorio Barrini · 1 ep
Mission: Impossible
TV · as Senko Brobin · 1 ep
Blue Light
TV · 1 ep
Kraft Suspense Theatre
TV · as Dr. Jeremias Lipp · 1 ep
Ben Casey
TV · 2 eps
Terror Is a Man
Movie · as Dr. Charles Girard
The Return of Dracula
Movie · as Count Dracula
Maracaibo
Movie · as Miguel Orlando
Behind Closed Doors
TV · as Brauer · 1 ep
Lisbon
Movie · as Seraphim
The Ambassador's Daughter
Movie · as Prince Nicholas Obelski
Matinee Theater
TV · 1 ep
Stolen Identity
Movie · as Claude Manelli
Adventures in Vienna
Movie · as Claude Manelli
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · 1 ep
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Movie · as Baron Rocco de Greffi
A Woman of Distinction
Movie · as Paul Simone
Surrender
Movie · as Henry Vaan
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Charles · 1 ep
Robert Montgomery Presents
TV · as Baron · 1 ep
Million Dollar Weekend
Movie · as Alan Marker
Studio One
TV · as Rene d'Arcy · 1 ep
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV · 1 ep
The Madonna's Secret
Movie · as James Harlan Corbin
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Movie · as Joseph
Voice in the Wind
Movie · as Jan Volny / El Hombre
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Movie · as Esteban / Manuel
Puddin' Head
Movie · as Prince Karl
The Man I Married
Movie · as Eric Hoffman
Midnight
Movie · as Jacques Picot
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Movie · as Kurt Schneider
The Lone Wolf in Paris
Movie · as Michael Lanyard
It's All Yours
Movie · as Jimmy Barnes
Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
Movie · as Self (uncredited)
One Rainy Afternoon
Movie · as Philippe Martin
My American Wife
Movie · as Count Ferdinand von und zu Reidenach
The Gay Deception
Movie · as Sandro
Starlit Days at the Lido
Movie · as Self
The Pursuit of Happiness
Movie · as Max Christmann
Romance in Manhattan
Movie · as Karel Novak
Man of Two Worlds
Movie · as Aigo
Her Majesty Love
Movie · as Fred von Wellingen
The Fate of Renate Langen
Movie · as Gerd
Susie Cleans Up
Movie · as Robert
Fundvogel
Movie · as Jan Bergwall
The Great Desire
Movie · as Himself
The Road to Dishonour
Movie · as Boris Borrisoff
The emperor's detective
Movie · as Dr. Wolfgang Crusius
Pandora's Box
Movie · as Alwa Schön
Mother Hummingbird
Movie · as Georges de Chambry
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna
Movie · as Lt. Michael Rostof
Meineid
Movie · as Karl Fenn
Atlantik
Movie · as Peter
Die seltsame Nacht der Helga Wangen
Movie · as Werner Hilsoe
Refuge
Movie · as Martin Falkhagen