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)
- So Dark the Night as Dr. Boncourt
- O.S.S. as Marcel Aubert
- Just Before Dawn as Dr. Evans (uncredited)
1945
- A Royal Scandal as Wassilikow (uncredited)
- Cornered
- Voice of the Whistler as Dr. Rose (replaced by Frank Reicher) (uncredited)
- White Pongo as Dr. Gerig
1943
- Mission to Moscow as Heinrich Sahm (uncredited)
- Above Suspicion as Gestapo Official (Uncredited)
1942
- Isle of Missing Men as Richard Heller
- Kings Row as Dr. Candell
- For the Common Defense! as Adolph (uncredited)
1941
- Man Hunt as Jeweler
- Manpower as Pop Duval
- 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)
- I Was an Adventuress as Jacques Dubois
- The Man I Married as Czech
- A Dispatch from Reuters as Von Konstat (uncredited)
- Buyer Beware as Child's Father (uncredited)
- Calling Philo Vance as Austrian Judge (uncredited)
- Know Your Money as Samuels the Druggist (uncredited)
1939
- Juarez as Baron von Magnus (uncredited)
- Espionage Agent as Larsch
- Nurse Edith Cavell as Dr. Gunther
- The Three Musketeers as Landlord
- Angels Wash Their Faces as Mr. Smith
- Judge Hardy and Son as Anton Volduzzi
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy as Fritz Muller - German Agent (uncredited)
- Hotel Imperial as Pograncz (uncredited)
- Devil's Island as Debriac
- We Are Not Alone as Mr. Adolf Schiller
- While America Sleeps as Klaus
1938
- Racket Busters as Peters (uncredited)
- You and Me as Mr. Levine
- Cocoanut Grove as Pawnbroker
- Suez as Doctor
- Arsène Lupin Returns as Vasseur (uncredited)
- Gateway as Rabbi
- Blondes at Work as J.Z. Beckman (uncredited)
- I'll Give a Million as Citizen
- Invisible Enemy as Kirman
- The Spy Ring as General A. R. Bowen
- Spring Madness as Soviet Travel Bureau Agent
1937
- Heidi as Inn Keeper
- Black Legion as Dombrowski
- Espionage as Chief of Police
- Beg, Borrow or Steal as Antique Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
- The Great O'Malley as Morris - the Pawnbroker (uncredited)
- Stolen Holiday as Deputy Bergery
- I Met Him in Paris as Emile - Upper Sled Run Tower Control
- The Women Men Marry as John (uncredited)
1936
- Paddy O'Day as Russian Musician
- The Devil-Doll as Detective (uncredited)
- Boulder Dam as Pa Vangarick
- Sins of Man as Doctor
- The White Angel as Pastor Fliedner
- Alibi for Murder as Sir Conrad Stava
- Charlie Chan's Secret as Ulrich
- Till We Meet Again as Schultz
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
- Many Happy Returns as Dr. Otto von Strudel
- As the Earth Turns as Mr. Janowski
1933
- To the Last Man as Mark Hayden
- Convention City as Zorb