Adolf Anton Wilhelm Wohlbrück (19 November 1896 – 9 August 1967) was an Austrian actor who settled in the United Kingdom under the name Anton Walbrook. A popular performer in Austria and pre-war Germany, he left in 1936 out of concerns for his own safety and established a career in British cinema. Walbrook is perhaps best known for his roles in the original British film of Gaslight, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Red Shoes and Victoria the Great (as Prince Albert).
Early life
Walbrook was born in Vienna, Austria, as Adolf Wohlbrück.[1] He was the son of Gisela Rosa (Cohn) and Adolf Ferdinand Bernhard Hermann Wohlbrück.[2][3] He was descended from ten generations of actors, though his father broke with tradition and was a circus clown.
Career
Walbrook studied with the director Max Reinhardt and built up a career in Austrian theatre and cinema.
In 1936, he went to Hollywood to reshoot dialogue for the 1937 multinational The Soldier and the Lady, in which he portrayed the Jules Verne hero Michael Strogoff, and changed his name from Adolf to Anton. Rather than returning to Germany, where he risked persecution because he was a mixed race in the first degree as his mother was Jewish,[4] and because he was homosexual,[5] he settled in England, where he continued working as an actor, specialising in playing continental Europeans.
His Red Shoes co-star Moira Shearer recalled Walbrook was a loner on set, often wearing dark glasses, as in his character costume in the film, and eating alone.[8] He retired from films in 1958, and in later years appeared on the German stage and television.