Emil Jannings
First Oscar-winning actor whose accent ended his Hollywood career.
Jannings received the first Best Actor Oscar for his roles as a bank clerk in The Way of All Flesh (1927) and as Grand Duke Sergius Alexander in The Last Command (1928).[1]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 23 July 1884
- Birthplace
- Rorschach, Switzerland
- Died
- 2 January 1950
- Place of death
- Strobl, Allied-occupied Austria
- Birth name
- Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz
- Occupation
- Actor
- Years active
- 1914–1945
- Children
- 1
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Jannings ran away from school at 16 to become a sailor before his mother allowed him to begin a theatre traineeship in Görlitz.[1][2] Jannings won his Oscar for his portrayals in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh, a film now presumed lost except for five minutes of footage at UCLA.[1] After Paramount screen-tested him, the studio decided his thick German accent was unsuitable for talkies.[1] He made Der Blaue Engel with Marlene Dietrich in 1930.[1]
Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels named Jannings an "Artist of the State" for his work in Nazi cinema.[3] Following the Nazis' takeover of power in 1933, Jannings remained in Germany and extended his career by producing state-sponsored films.[4] In 1947 Jannings became an Austrian citizen and spent his retirement in Strobl, near Salzburg.[5]
What the cited sources add
At the end of World War II, Jannings reportedly rushed toward allied troops clutching his Oscar and yelling "Don't shoot, I have won an Oscar!"[1] His former co-star Marlene Dietrich particularly loathed Jannings for his Nazi ties, terming him a "ham"[6] Jannings was married four times, with his first three marriages ending in divorce.[7] Susan Orlean has stated that Jannings was the runner-up, not the actual victor, for the first Best Actor Oscar.[8]
Because of his deep involvement with Nazi propaganda, Jannings underwent denazification and never performed as an actor again.[9]
References
- "The Nazi who won the Oscars' first ever Best Actor award", Independent.co.uk, 8 March 2024. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Herr Emil Jannings A Great Film Actor", 4 January 1950, p. 7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Welch, "Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1933-1945", I.B.Tauris, 2001, p. 117 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Herr Emil Jannings A Great Film Actor", 4 January 1950, p. 7; Chroniknet.de , Obituary for Emil Jannings (2 January 1950), chroniknet.de]; accessed 26 October 2014. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Marlene (1984) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Deutelbaum, ""Image" on the art and evolution of the film: Photographs and articles from the magazine of the International Museum of Photography", Dover Publications, 1952; "Billboard", 14 January 1950 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fleming, "Susan Orlean: Throw Rin Tin Tin A Bone & Give Back The Pooch's Best Actor Oscar", Deadline Hollywood, 3 January 2012; "No, Rin Tin Tin Didn't Really Win the First Best Actor Oscar", 15 February 2017; Meares, "Which Best Actor Winner Allegedly Once Shouted, "Don't Shoot. I Have Won an Oscar"?", The Hollywood Reporter, 16 March 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Emil Jannings" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Nazi who won the Oscars' first ever Best Actor award", Independent.co.uk, 8 March 2024 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Emil Jannings (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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