Emil Jannings (23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a German actor, popular in 1920s Hollywood. He was the first Oscar
recipient, honored with the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 1929 ceremony. To date, he is still the only German to have won the Best Actor Oscar. Jannings is best known for his collaborations with F.W. Murnau and Josef von Sternberg, including 1930’s The Blue Angel, with Marlene Dietrich. Der blaue Engel was meant as a vehicle for Jannings to score a place for himself in the new medium of sound film, but Dietrich stole the show. Jannings later starred in a number of Nazi propaganda films, which made him unemployable as an actor after the fall of the Third Reich.
He was christened Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz in Rorschach, Switzerland, the son of Emil Janenz, an American businessman from St. Louis, and his wife Margarethe (Schwabe), originally from Germany. Jannings held German citizenship; while he was still young the family moved to Leipzig in the German Empire and further to Grlitz after the early death of his father. Jannings ran away from school and went to sea. When he returned to Grlitz, his mother finally allowed him to begin a traineeship at the town state theatre, where Jannings started his stage career. From 1901 onwards he worked with several theatre companies in Bremen, Nuremberg, Leipzig, Knigsberg, and Glogau before joining the Deutsches Theater ensemble under director Max Reinhardt in Berlin. Permanently employed since 1915, Jannings met with playwright Karl Vollmller, fellow actor Ernst Lubitsch, and photographer Frieda Riess, who after World War I all were at the heart of the Weimar Culture in 1920s Berlin. Jannings made his breakthrough in 1918 with his role as Judge Adam in Kleist’s Broken Jug at the Schauspielhaus.
Jannings was a theater actor who went into films, though he remained dissatisfied with the limited expressive possibilities in the silent era. Having signed a contract with the UFA production company, he starred in Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy, 1918) and Madame DuBarry (1919), both with Pola Negri in the main female part. He also performed in the 1922 film version of Othello and in F. W. Murnau‘s The Last Laugh (Der Letzte Mann, 1924), as a proud but aged hotel doorman who is demoted to a restroom attendant. Jannings worked with Murnau on two other films, playing the title character in Herr Tartff (1925), and as Mephistopheles in Faust (1926). His increasing popularity enabled Jannings to sign an agreement with Paramount Pictures and eventually follow his acting colleagues Lubitsch and Negri to Hollywood. He started his career in 1927 with The Way of All Flesh directed by Victor Fleming (now lost) and in the following year performed in Josef von Sternberg‘s The Last Command. In 1929 Jannings won the first Best Actor Oscar for his work in both films. He and Sternberg also cooperated in Street of Sin (1928), though they actually differed about Jannings’ acting in front of the camera. His Hollywood career came to an end with the advent of talkies as his thick German accent was difficult to understand. His dialogue was initially dubbed by another actor in the part-talkie The Patriot (1928) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, although Jannings’ own voice was restored after he objected. Returning to Europe, he starred opposite Marlene Dietrich in the 1930 film The Blue Angel, which was filmed simultaneously in English with its German version Der blaue Engel. According to Susan Orlean, author of Rin Tin Tin: The Life and The Legend (Simon and Schuster, 2011), Jannings was not actually the winner of the first best actor vote, but the runner-up. While researching her book, Orlean discovered that it was in fact Rin Tin Tin, the German Shepherd dog, one of the biggest movie stars of his time, who won the vote. The Academy, however, worried about not being taken seriously if they gave the first Oscar to a dog, chose to award the Oscar to the human runner-up. In 1960, Jannings was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1630 Vine Street for his contribution to motion pictures. After the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933, Jannings continued his career in the service of Nazism and cinema. During the Third Reich, he starred in several films which were intended to promote Nazism, particularly the Fhrerprinzip by presenting unyielding historical characters, such as Der alte und der junge Knig (The Old and the Young King 1934), Der Herrscher (The Ruler 1937) directed by Veit Harlan, Robert Koch (1939), Ohm Krger (Uncle Kruger, 1941) and Die Entlassung (Bismarck’s Dismissal, 1942). He also performed in his famed role in The Broken Jug directed by Gustav Ucicky. Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels named Jannings an “Artist of the State” (Staatsschauspieler) The shooting of his last film Wo ist Herr Belling? was aborted, when troops of the Allied Powers entered Germany in Spring 1945. Jannings reportedly carried his Oscar statuette with him as proof of his former association with Hollywood. However, his active role in Nazi propaganda meant that he was subject to denazification, and a comeback attempt would not be legal. Ironically, in the same period Dietrich would become a US citizen and an influential anti-Nazi activist, spending much of the war entertaining troops on the front lines and broadcasting on behalf of the OSS. Dietrich particularly loathed Jannings for his Nazi ties, and would later refer to her former co-star as a “ham“.
Jannings retired to Strobl near Salzburg, Austria, and became an Austrian citizen in 1947. He died in 1950, aged 65, from liver cancer. He is buried in the St. Wolfgang cemetery. His Best Actor Oscar is now on display at the Berlin Filmmuseum.
Jannings was married three times. All three marriages were to stage and film actresses and all three ended in divorce. His first marriage was to Hanna Ralph, his second to Lucie Hflich, and his final marriage was to Gussy Holl.
Overview
Childhood and Youth
Career
America
Nazi Germany
Death
Death
Marriages
Cultural Depictions
Filmography
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1914
Arme Eva
Im Schtzengraben
Passionels Tagebuch
1916
Aus Mangel an Beweisen
Dr. Langer
Die Bettlerin von St. Marien
Baron Gelsburg
Frau Eva
Im Angesicht des Toten
Paul Werner
Life Is a Dream
Nchte des Grauens
Stein unter Steinen
1917
Das Fidele Gefngnis
Quabbe, the jailer
The Merry Jail (Europe: English title)
When Four Do the Same
Segetoff
Hoheit Radieschen
The Marriage of Luise Rohrbach
Wilhelm Rohrbach
Der Zehnte Pavillon der Zitadelle
Das Geschft
S. H. Haler
Lulu
Der Ring der Giuditta Foscari
Die Seeschlacht
Unheilbar
1918
Keimendes Leben, Teil 1
James Fraenkel, Brsenmarktler
John Smith, amerikanischer Ingenieur
Die Augen der Mumie Ma
Radu, an Arab
a.k.a. The Eyes of the Mummy
Fuhrmann Henschel
Nach zwanzig Jahren
Horst Lundin ‘Korn’
1919
Rose Bernd
Arthur Streckmann
Madame DuBarry
Louis XV
a.k.a. Passion
Vendetta
Tomasso
The Daughter of Mehemed
Vaco Juan Riberda, Fabrikbesitzer
Keimendes Leben, Teil 2
Der Mann der Tat
Jan Miller
1920
Colombine
Anna Boleyn
Henry VIII
a.k.a. Deception
Der Schdel der Pharaonentochter
Osorcon, Pharao of Egypt
Algol – Tragdie der Macht
Robert Herne
Das Groe Licht
Lorenz Ferleitner
Kohlhiesel’s Daughters
Peter Xaver
1921
The Rats
Bruno
The Oath of Peter Hergatz
Danton
Danton
a.k.a. All for a Woman
Der Stier von Olivera
General Franois Guillaume
The Brothers Karamazov
Dimitri Karamasoff
a.k.a. Die Brder Karamasoff
1922
Peter the Great
Peter der Groe
a.k.a. Peter der Groe
Othello
Othello
The Loves of Pharaoh
Pharao Amenes
a.k.a. Das Weib des Pharao
Die Grfin von Paris
a.k.a. The Countess of Paris (USA)
1923
Alles fr Geld
S. I. Rupp
Tragdie der Liebe
Ombrade
a.k.a. The Tragedy of Love (USA)
1924
Der Letzte Mann
Hotelportier (hotel porter)
The Last Laugh (USA)
Nju – Eine unverstandene Frau
Ehemann
a.k.a. Husbands or Lovers (USA)
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett
Harun al Raschid
a.k.a. Waxworks
Quo Vadis
Nerone
Extant
1925
Variet
Boss Huller
a.k.a. Jealousy (USA)
Liebe macht blind
Emil Jannings
a.k.a. Love Makes Us Blind
1926
Herr Tartff
Tartff
Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage
Mephisto
Extant
1927
The Way of All Flesh
August Schilling
Academy Award for Best Actor; Lost film
1928
Sins of the Fathers
Wilhelm Spengler
excerpts and clips are preserved of this film. Unconfirmed about the total film
The Patriot
Czar Paul I
Lost film
Street of Sin
Basher Bill
Lost film
The Last Command
Gen. Dolgorucki / Grand Duke Sergius Alexander
Academy Award for Best Actor; Extant
1929
Betrayal
Poldi Moser
Fighting the White Slave Traffic
1930
Darling of the Gods
Albert Winkelmann
a.k.a. Darling of the Gods
Der blaue Engel
Prof. Immanuel Rath
a.k.a. The Blue Angel (USA)
1932
Storms of Passion
Gustav Bumke
a.k.a. Strme der Leidenschaft a.k.a. Tempest
1933
Die Abenteuer des Knigs Pausole
King Pausole
a.k.a. The Adventures of King Pausole
The Merry Monarch
King Pausole
1934
Der Schwarze Walfisch
Peter Petersen
a.k.a. The Black Whale (International: English title)
1935
Der Alte und der junge Knig – Friedrichs des Grossen Jugend
Friedrich Wilhelm I. Knig von Preussen
a.k.a. The Making of a King (USA)
1936
The Dreamer
Direktor Prof. Niemeyer
1937
The Broken Jug
Adam, Dorfrichter
a.k.a. The Broken Jug
Der Herrscher
Matthias Clausen
a.k.a. The Ruler
1939
Robert Koch
Dr. Robert Koch
Der Trichter. (Nr. III)
scenes deleted
1941
Ohm Krger
Ohm Krger
a.k.a. Uncle Kruger (International: English title)
1942
Die Entlassung
Bismarck
a.k.a. Bismarck’s Dismissal (UK)
1943
Altes Herz wird wieder jung
Fabrikdirektor Hoffmann
1945
Wo ist Herr Belling?
Firmenchef Eberhard Belling
a.k.a. Where Is Mr. Belling?