Jannings, Emil b. July 23, 1884; Rorschach, Switzerland d. January 2, 1950; Strobl,Wolfgangsee, Austria

German actor who played in six silent movies made in Hollywood between 1926 and 1929. He was born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz. A charming man, a generous giant who could equally as well play a de­feated man, a naive lover, a president, or a powerful king, Jannings is presented by his French biographer Charles Ford as “the most popular German actor during the 1920s” (Ford 1969, 3).

Born in Switzerland but raised in Germany, Jannings began his stage career in 1902 and had the chance to play at the Deutsches Theater (German Theater) in Berlin under the direction of Max Rein­hardt from 1906. Many newcomers had joined the group at the Deutsches Theater through the years: Conrad Veidt, Paul Wegener, and later Ernst Lubitsch, in 1912. Between 1917 and 1921, Jannings appeared in eight films directed by his friend Ernst Lubitsch, including Die Augen der Mummie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918). Jannings played the leading role in Madame Dubarry (1918) and Anna Boleyn (1920), both directed by Lubitsch; Die Bruder Karamasoff (The Brothers Karamazov, 1921); Danton (1921); Othello (1923); Nju (1924); and Varietes (1925). He starred in Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s most important films in Germany: Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh, 1924), Tartuffe (1925), and Faust (1926). Jannings himself directed an ob­scure film in which he played the role of a nouveau riche, titled Alles fur Geld (All for Money, 1924). Among those produc­tions, Jannings’s introverted performance

in Varietes (1925), directed by a German filmmaker named Edwald Andre Dupont, was sometimes mentioned as a landmark by Marlon Brando and other students from the New York Actor’s Stu­dio, because the defeated jailer (played by Jannings) was often seen from the back while in prison. Admirers from the silent era explained that Jannings could be ex­pressive even when playing with his back to the audience.

In 1926, at the height of his popular fame, Jannings went to the United States and played in six silent films. He received two Oscars from the Academy of Film In­stitute for the first two films he starred in while in Hollywood: in Victor Fleming’s The Way of All Flesh (1927) and Josef von Sternberg’s The Last Command (1928). The following year, Jannings starred in Ernst Lubitsch’s The Patriot (1928), from a novel by Alfred Neumann. For Jannings and Lubitsch, it was their ninth collabora­tion. Almost simultaneously, Jannings also played in Street of Sin (1928), by the Scandinavian director Maurice Stiller. He reappeared as a jailer in Sins of the Fathers (1928), by the German director Ludwig Berger. The last film Jannings did in the United States was a minor one, titled The Betrayal (1929), directed by Lewis Mile­stone.

Because of his heavy German accent, Jannings could not work in American “talkies” and went back to Germany after only three years spent in the United States. Back in Berlin, he played his most famous role, the respectful Professor Unrath, who is seduced by the irresistible Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich), in the German and English versions of Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel, 1930). The script, adapted from a novel by Heinrich Mann, was somewhat comparable to Jannings’s first U.S. film, The Way of All Flesh. Having played for Sternberg two years before, Jan- nings had promised himself not to work again with the capricious director, al­though the actor insisted that the produc­tion company, the Universum Film Ak- tiongesellschaft, hire Sternberg for what would be the first sound film produced in Germany. The film soon became a classic, thanks to both stars. However, while Diet­rich and Sternberg returned to the United States after the international success of The Blue Angel, Jannings never did.

During the Nazi period, Jannings stayed in Berlin and appeared in nine films that were quite successful in Germany, as did some talented actors from the expres­sionist era, such as Robert Wiene, Theodor Loos, and Rudolf Klein-Rogge. All were re­united in a biographical film directed by Hans Steinhoff entitled Robert Koch, der Bekampfer des Todes (Robert Koch, the Conqueror of Death, 1939), in which Jan- nings played the title role. Jannings’s last great roles were in biographical films: Pres­ident Kruger in Ohm Kruger (1941) and Bismarck in Die Entlassung (Bismarck’s Dismissal, 1942).

Yves Laberge

See also Dietrich, Marlene Magdalene; Film (German), American influence on; Hollywood; Lubitsch, Ernst; Murnau, Friedrich Wilhelm; Reinhardt, Max; Sternberg, Josef von

References and Further Reading

Ford, Charles. EmilJannings. Paris: Anthologie du cinema, No. 46, 1969.

The German-Hollywood Connection: Emil Jannings (1884—1950). Winner of the First Oscar for Best Actor. http://www.germanhollywood.com/jannings.html (Accessed May 11, 2005).