Paul Henckels

Biography

Paul Henckels (1885-1967) was a German film and stage actor, best known for eccentric, colourful characters and a distinctive Rhineland accent. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1921 and 1965, a career that spans silent cinema, the sound era and the postwar years.

He began on the stage in the 1900s and soon became a valued character actor. Among his most popular roles is the schoolmaster Professor Bömmel in Die Feuerzangenbowle, and during the 1950s he played the veterinarian Dr. Pudlich in the Immenhof film series. On stage he spent many years at the Schauspielhaus Berlin, where his most famous part was Wibbel the Tailor, which he performed more than a thousand times.

Under the Third Reich, his father being Jewish made him a "half-Jew" under Nazi law, yet he was allowed to keep working, a rare exception usually attributed to the intervention of his friend Gustaf Gründgens and to his popularity as a character actor. His legacy rests mainly on the gallery of supporting characters he left in German cinema.

Key films

• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933): a supporting role in one of the best-known criminal series of Weimar-era German cinema.
• Die Feuerzangenbowle (1944): as Professor Bömmel, one of his most remembered characters.
• Kolberg (1945): a part in one of the most expensive German productions of its time.
• Confessions of Felix Krull (1957): one of his last major film appearances, in the adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel.