- Born
- Died
- Birth nameIngo Clemens Gustav Adolf Freiherr von Wangenheim
- Height5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)
- Gustav von Wangenheim was a German actor, film director, and screenwriter from Wiesbaden. He is mostly remembered for playing the character Hutter in the classic horror film "Nosferatu" (1921). His character was based on the character of Jonathan Harker in the novel "Dracula" (1897) by Bram Stoker.
In 1895, Wangenheim was born in Wiesbaden. His father was the prolific actor Eduard von Winterstein (1871-1961, real name: Eduard Clemens Franz Anna Freiherr von Wangenheim), while his mother was theatrical actress Minna Mengers. His paternal ancestors were members of German nobility, the Freiherrs (Barons) of Wangenheim.
Wangenheim made his film debut in 1914, and went on to star in several silent films. Besides "Nosferatu", his best known film was "Woman in the Moon" (1929) by y Fritz Lang. It was among the earliest depictions of space travel in film, and is still considered one of the first "serious" science fiction films.
In 1921, Wangenheim joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD, 1918-1956). At the time, the KPD was one of the major political parties of the Weimar Republic. During the 1920s, the party became Stalinist in ideology. In 1931, Wangenheim established "Die Truppe '31", a theatrical company consisting exclusively of communists. Wangenheim both wrote and produced three plays for this theatre company between 1931 and 1933.
In 1933, the then-new Nazi regime shut down Wangenheim's theatrical company. His ideology made Wangenheim a target for Nazi persecution, so he soon fled Germany. He settled in the Soviet Union, becoming a long-term resident of the "Hotel Lux" in Moscow. During the 1930s, this hotel housed exiles from about 50 different countries.
In 1933, Wangenheim became the new leader of Left Column, a Soviet theatrical company which consisted primarily of German exiles. He eventually secured enough funding to direct the film "Der Kampf" (1936), a film protesting against the oppressive policies of Nazi Germany.
In 1936, Wangenheim was implicated in the then-ongoing trials of the Great Purge, a repressive political purge within the Soviet Union. He reportedly denounced the actress Carola Neher (1900-1942) and her husband as Trotskyites. According to a testimony from Wangenheim's son, following a lengthy interrogation, his father was forced to sign papers which implicated Neher in an anti-Soviet conspiracy. The charges against her had been prepared, and the authorities needed to convince Wangenheim to serve as a false witness.
In 1943, Wangenheim became a founding member of the "National Committee for a Free Germany". It was an anti-Nazi and pro-Soviet organization formed within the Soviet Union, with most of its members being German exiles or German war prisoners that tried to gain support from the Soviet government.
Following the end of World War II, Wangenheim settled in East Germany. He joined the state-owned film studio DEFA (1946-1992), serving as one of its film directors and screenwriters for several years. In 1954, he had his long-term marriage to the writer and photographer Inge von Wangenheim (1912-1993) annulled.
In 1975, Wangenheim died in East Berlin, at the age of 80. He was buried in the Friedrichsfelde cemetery in Berlin. He remains among the best remembered actors of the German silent film period, in part due to collaborations with well-regarded film directors.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dimos I
- SpouseInge von Wangenheim(1931 - 1954) (annulled, 1 child)
- Parents
- Introspective leading actor, trained in Berlin 1912-14. On stage after military service in World War I. Had powerful socialist leanings. During the 1920's, member of the communist party (KPD). Founded and toured with his own worker's theatrical troupe. Forced to flee from Germany after Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Became a Soviet citizen in 1940 and made propaganda radio broadcasts on behalf of his adopted country. Returned to Germany in 1945, active primarily as a stage director and producer.
- A member of the Communist Party of Germany since 1921, von Wangenheim founded the Communist theatre company Die Truppe '31 in 1931. Die Truppe '31 produced three plays, authored and directed by Wangenheim, before it was shut down by order of the Nazi regime in 1933.
- In 1936, during the Stalinist purges, he denounced his colleagues Carola Neher and Anatol Becker as Trotskyites. Becker was executed and Neher died in the Gulag system after five years in prison. Von Wangenheim's son later stated the accusations that his father denounced Neher and Becker were one-sided and inaccurate. Gustav von Wangenheim's son claimed his father, after being arrested by the NKWD and a lengthy interrogation, signed a statement that implicated Carola Neher as being "anti soviet" but had in fact explicitly refuted the accusation that Neher and her husband Anatol Becker had planned to murder Stalin.
- After the end of war he returned from the Soviet Union to Germany in 1945.
- Footage of von Wangenheim's performance as Hutter in Nosferatu appears in the Queen video for "Under Pressure.".
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