Egon Brecher
Born: 1880-02-15 in Olmütz, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Olomouc, Czech Republic]
Died: 1946-08-12
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Egon Brecher (18 February 1880 – 12 August 1946) was an Austria-Hungary-born actor and director, who also served as the chief director of Vienna's Stadts Theatre, before entering the motion picture industry. The son of a professor, Brecher began studying philosophy in 1900 at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He did not finish his studies, deciding to become an actor. He appeared on several provincial stages in Germany and Austria until 1910, and then played in Vienna on various occasions, directed by Josef Jarno until 1921. In 1907, he founded an initiative (which lasted for something like one or two years) to play modern Yiddish theatre in German language with Siegfried Schmitz and members of the student club ‘Theodor Herzl’ like Hugo Zuckermann and Oskar Rosenfeld. In 1919 he was co-founder of the Freie Jüdische Volksbühne in Vienna, a Yiddish theatre, which existed for three years. Then, in 1921, he moved to New York to act on Broadway. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s to appear in foreign-language versions of American films. In the mid-1930s he appeared in classic horror films The Black Cat, Werewolf of London, The Black Room, Mark of the Vampire and The Devil-Doll, and worked steadily in the espionage films of the 1930s/40s, his Slavic accent landing him roles both noble and villainous. One of his largest screen roles was in 1946's So Dark the Night. He died later in 1946, aged 66, of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography
1946
- Sister Kenny as Frenchman (uncredited)
- The Diary of a Chambermaid as The Postman (Uncredited)
- O.S.S. as Marcel Aubert
- So Dark the Night as Dr. Boncourt
- Just Before Dawn as Dr. Evans (uncredited)
1945
- A Royal Scandal as Wassilikow (uncredited)
- Cornered
- White Pongo as Dr. Gerig
- Voice of the Whistler as Dr. Rose (replaced by Frank Reicher) (uncredited)
1943
- Mission to Moscow as Heinrich Sahm (uncredited)
- Above Suspicion as Gestapo Official (Uncredited)
1942
- Kings Row as Dr. Candell
- For the Common Defense! as Adolph (uncredited)
- Isle of Missing Men as Richard Heller
1941
- Manpower as Pop Duval
- Man Hunt as Jeweler
- Underground as Herr Director
- Four Mothers as Music Foundation Director (uncredited)
- Out of Darkness as Victor Jourdain (uncredited)
1940
- Rebecca as Hotel Desk Clerk (uncredited)
- All This, and Heaven Too as Doctor (uncredited)
- Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet as Martl
- Knute Rockne All American as Elder in Norway (uncredited)
- The Man I Married as Czech
- I Was an Adventuress as Jacques Dubois
- Calling Philo Vance as Austrian Judge (uncredited)
- A Dispatch from Reuters as Von Konstat (uncredited)
- Know Your Money as Samuels the Druggist (uncredited)
- Buyer Beware as Child's Father (uncredited)
1939
- Juarez as Baron von Magnus (uncredited)
- The Three Musketeers as Landlord
- Nurse Edith Cavell as Dr. Gunther
- Angels Wash Their Faces as Mr. Smith
- Espionage Agent as Larsch
- Hotel Imperial as Pograncz (uncredited)
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy as Fritz Muller - German Agent (uncredited)
- Devil's Island as Debriac
- Judge Hardy and Son as Anton Volduzzi
- We Are Not Alone as Mr. Adolf Schiller
- While America Sleeps as Klaus
1938
- You and Me as Mr. Levine
- Gateway as Rabbi
- Arsène Lupin Returns as Vasseur (uncredited)
- I'll Give a Million as Citizen
- Racket Busters as Peters (uncredited)
- Suez as Doctor
- Blondes at Work as J.Z. Beckman (uncredited)
- Spring Madness as Soviet Travel Bureau Agent
- Cocoanut Grove as Pawnbroker
- The Spy Ring as General A. R. Bowen
- Invisible Enemy as Kirman
1937
- Heidi as Inn Keeper
- Black Legion as Dombrowski
- Espionage as Chief of Police
- The Great O'Malley as Morris - the Pawnbroker (uncredited)
- Beg, Borrow or Steal as Antique Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
- I Met Him in Paris as Emile - Upper Sled Run Tower Control
- Stolen Holiday as Deputy Bergery
- The Women Men Marry as John (uncredited)
1936
- Paddy O'Day as Russian Musician
- The Devil-Doll as Detective (uncredited)
- Sins of Man as Doctor
- Boulder Dam as Pa Vangarick
- The White Angel as Pastor Fliedner
- Charlie Chan's Secret as Ulrich
- Till We Meet Again as Schultz
- Alibi for Murder as Sir Conrad Stava
1935
- Mark of the Vampire as Coroner (uncredited)
- Werewolf of London as Priest (uncredited)
- The Florentine Dagger as Karl
- Here's to Romance as Descartes
- Air Hawks as Schulter's Henchman
1934
- The Black Cat as The Majordomo
- Now and Forever as Doctor (uncredited)
- No Greater Glory as Racz
- As the Earth Turns as Mr. Janowski
- Many Happy Returns as Dr. Otto von Strudel
1933
- To the Last Man as Mark Hayden
- Convention City as Zorb