Paul Graetz

Biography

Paul Graetz was a German actor and comedian, one of the best-known performers of the Weimar cabaret scene. His career spanned the silent and sound eras, and on some productions he also worked as a producer. Born on 4 August 1889 and dying on 16 February 1937, he lived through the shift from silent to sound film and the upheavals of German stage life between the wars.

During the 1920s he divided his time between cabaret stages and film roles. His parts were usually comic figures or character supporting roles, and his screen work drew on the same timing and wit that had made him popular on stage. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the regime expelled him from Germany, treating him as an unwanted outsider. He settled in Hollywood, where he died in 1937. Max Reinhardt gave the eulogy at his funeral.

His legacy rests mostly on his work as a Weimar cabaret performer whose career was cut short by exile. For cinephiles interested in German film of the twenties and thirties, his films offer a way into the comic theatre of that period.

Key films

• Sumurun (1920): a supporting part in one of the best-known orientalist productions of German silent cinema.
• I.N.R.I. (1923): an appearance in a biblical drama from the silent era.
• Mary (1931): a role in one of his sound films, made as German-language cinema was adapting to sound.
• Jew Süss (1934): an appearance in the production made after he left Germany.