Biography
Fritz Kortner was an Austrian actor and theatre director. Born Fritz Nathan Kohn in Vienna on 12 May 1892, he studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before joining Max Reinhardt’s company in Berlin in 1911 and later working with Leopold Jessner from 1916. He appeared in silent films from 1916 and became known for character roles, often sinister or threatening figures, in German Expressionist theatre and cinema.
With the rise of the Nazis, Kortner, who was Jewish, left Germany in 1933 and worked as a character actor in the United States before returning in 1949. He directed innovative productions of classics, including a 1964 staging of Richard III. His film roles include Dr Ludwig Schön in Pandora’s Box (1929), Nera in The Hands of Orlac (1924) and Kosti in The Razor’s Edge (1946). Kortner died in Munich on 22 July 1970.
