--- name: "Joseph Schildkraut" canonical: "https://film.one/person/joseph-schildkraut" roles: ["Actor"] born: "22 March 1896" died: "21 January 1964" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 68 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-19T23:23:08.779560+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Joseph Schildkraut Actor. Born 22 March 1896 in Vienna, Austria. Died 21 January 1964. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 22 March 1896, Vienna, Austria - **Died:** 21 January 1964 - **Active:** 1934–1937 - **Also known as:** Josef Schildkraut, Джозеф Шилдкраут, Йозеф Шильдкраут - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as actor, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schildkraut, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q93632, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771584/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/24820 ## Fi1m on Joseph Schildkraut > Schildkraut spent four decades in Hollywood being either the smoothest man in the picture or the one the picture had decided to ruin, and he was better at the second. His Dreyfus, silent while others speak for him, is the performance to start with. In *The Life of Emile Zola* (1937), an officer runs a finger down a list of names and stops, and for most of the film the man attached to that name barely gets a line. Schildkraut plays Captain Dreyfus as someone waiting to be told what he has done, and the waiting is the performance. The court martial and the ceremony after it, the sword broken and the crowd jeering, moved us more than any of the speeches made on his behalf, and it was his face that did it: a man who keeps expecting an explanation that the film, like the army, will not give him. He is the best thing in Dieterle's picture, and he does it almost without speaking. He came to that stillness late. Trained under Max Reinhardt in Berlin and then at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he settled in New York in 1920 and made his Broadway name in *Liliom* (1921). Hollywood took him for costume and cunning: the Chevalier de Vaudrey in Griffith's *Orphans of the Storm* (1922), opposite Lillian Gish, and Judas in DeMille's *The King of Kings* (1927), with his father Rudolf playing Caiaphas on the same set. That fixed the pattern. For the next decade he was the man in the good coat whom the hero should not trust. General Pascal in *Viva Villa* (1934) is that man exactly: sleek, snide and useful to the plot, a performance we admired without liking, which is what the part asks for. Ferencz Vadas in Lubitsch's *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940) is the same coat behind a shop counter. But put him in the dock instead of behind the desk and something else arrives. Dreyfus in 1937 and Otto Frank in *The Diary of Anne Frank*, on Broadway in 1955 and on film in 1959, are the two performances the name survives on, and both are men made to stand still while other people decide their lives. The trouble was that Hollywood mostly wanted the first kind. After the 1930s the parts got smaller and the pictures cheaper, a run of secondary roles at Republic that nobody now watches for his sake, and the quality he had found in Dreyfus went largely unused until the stage handed him Frank nearly twenty years on. He was still working at the end. His Nicodemus in *The Greatest Story Ever Told* (1965) reached cinemas after he had died. Start with *Zola*, and watch what he does with a face when the script has given all the words to somebody else. Then the 1959 Frank. The villains are fine, and Pascal is worth a smile, but they are the work of a man who could have played them in his sleep. Dreyfus is the one where he looks awake. ## Biography Joseph Schildkraut was an Austrian-American actor. Born in Vienna in 1896, he was the son of the actor Rudolph Schildkraut. He made his professional stage debut in Berlin in 1913 under Max Reinhardt and later worked in Vienna before moving to New York in 1920. Schildkraut appeared in more than fifty films, beginning with *Orphans of the Storm* (1922). His credits include *Viva Villa!* (1934) as Gen. Pascal, *Cleopatra* (1934) as King Herod, *The Life of Emile Zola* (1937) as Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, for which he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940) and *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1959) as Otto Frank. He also worked extensively in theatre and on television until his death in New York City in 1964. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Life of Emile Zola* (1937), Fi1m 70, as Capt. Alfred Dreyfus — [page](https://film.one/film/the-life-of-emile-zola.md) - *Viva Villa!* (1934), Fi1m 66, as Gen. Pascal — [page](https://film.one/film/viva-villa.md) ## Complete filmography (68) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Greatest Story Ever Told* (1965), as Nicodemus - *Arrest and Trial* (1963), series, Actor - *Sam Benedict* (1962), series, Actor - *Dr. Kildare* (1961), series, as Dr. Maxwell Keller - *King of the Roaring 20's – The Story of Arnold Rothstein* (1961), as Abraham Rothstein - *The Twilight Zone* (1959), series, as John Holt, Alfred Becker — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-twilight-zone.md) - *The Diary of Anne Frank* (1959), as Otto Frank - *Hamlet* (1953), as Claudius - *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as King Claudius, Baron von Steuben - *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, as Major Ludwig - *Lux Video Theatre* (1950), series, as Henri Cassin - *The Gallant Legion* (1948), as Senator Clarke Faulkner - *Old Los Angeles* (1948), as Luis Savarin - *Northwest Outpost* (1947), as Count Igor Savin - *The Plainsman and the Lady* (1946), as Peter Marquette - *Monsieur Beaucaire* (1946), as Don Francisco - *The Cheaters* (1945), as Anthony 'Mr. M.' Marchand - *Flame of Barbary Coast* (1945), as Boss Tito Morell - *The Tell-Tale Heart* (1941), as Young Man - *The Parson of Panamint* (1941), as Bob Deming - *Meet the Wildcat* (1940), as Leon Dumeray - *Rangers of Fortune* (1940), as Col. Lewis Rebstock - *Phantom Raiders* (1940), as Mr. Al Taurez - *The Shop Around the Corner* (1940), as Ferencz Vadas - *Pack Up Your Troubles* (1939), as Hugo Ludwig - *The Rains Came* (1939), as Mr. Bannerjee - *Lady of the Tropics* (1939), as Pierre Delaroch - *The Man in the Iron Mask* (1939), as Fouquet - *Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation* (1939), as Hendrik Manderson - *The Three Musketeers* (1939), as King Louis XIII - *Idiot's Delight* (1939), as Capt. Kirvline - *Suez* (1938), as Vicomte Rene De Latour - *Marie Antoinette* (1938), as Duke d'Orléans - *The Baroness and the Butler* (1938), as Baron Georg Marissey - *Lady Behave!* (1937), as Michael Dimitri Andrews - *Lancer Spy* (1937), as Prince Ferdi Zu Schwarzwald - *The Life of Emile Zola* (1937), as Capt. Alfred Dreyfus — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/the-life-of-emile-zola.md) - *Souls at Sea* (1937), as Gaston de Bastonet - *Slave Ship* (1937), as Danelo - *The Garden of Allah* (1936), as Batouch - *Hollywood Extra Girl* (1935), as Crusades Actor (uncredited) - *The Crusades* (1935), as Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat - *Cleopatra* (1934), as King Herod - *Viva Villa!* (1934), as Gen. Pascal — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/viva-villa.md) - *Sisters Under the Skin* (1934), as Zukowski - *The Blue Danube* (1932), as Sandor - *Carnival* (1931), as Count Andreas Scipio - *Every Woman's Longing* (1930), as Buck - *Cock o' the Walk* (1930), as Carlos Lopez - *The Night Ride* (1930), as Joe Rooker - *The Mississippi Gambler* (1929), as Jack Morgan - *Show Boat* (1929), as Gaylord Ravenal - *Tenth Avenue* (1928), as Joe Ross - *The Blue Danube* (1928), as Ludwig - *The Forbidden Woman* (1927), as Jean La Coste - *His Dog* (1927), Actor - *The Heart Thief* (1927), as Paul Kurt - *The King of Kings* (1927), as Judas Iscariot - *Young April* (1926), as Prince Caryl - *Shipwrecked* (1926), as Larry O'Neil - *The Road to Yesterday* (1925), as Kenneth Paulton - *The Song of Love* (1923), as Raymon Valverde - *Orphans of the Storm* (1921), as Chevalier de Vaudrey - *Theodor Herzl, Standard-Bearer of the Jewish People* (1921), as Das leidende Israel - *Ein Blatt im Sturm...doch das Schicksal hat es verweht* (1917), as Kurt von Steinhorst - *Lullaby* (1916), as Hector Salicz - *Dämon und Mensch* (1915), Actor - *Schlemihl* (1915), as Jakob ## Gallery - ![Photo of Joseph Schildkraut from a 1953 appearance on the television anthology series, Schiltz Playhouse of Stars.](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-c60d69af4543.jpg) Photo of Joseph Schildkraut from a 1953 appearance on the television anthology series, Schiltz Playhouse of Stars. — Barkin, Herman and Associates-public relations for Schiltz Brewing, the show sponsor., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Joseph_Schildkraut_1953.jpg/1280px-Joseph_Schildkraut_1953.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Title: Jos. Schildkraut Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. (1900)](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-8f89a39a702e.jpg) Title: Jos. Schildkraut Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. (1900) — Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Jos._Schildkraut_LCCN2014715528_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Jos._Schildkraut_LCCN2014715528_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Joseph Schildkraut](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-020eddc7cd39.jpg) Joseph Schildkraut — Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Jos._Schildkraut_LCCN2014715528.jpg/1280px-Jos._Schildkraut_LCCN2014715528.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Still from the American drama film Cock o' the Walk (1930). Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actors, actresses](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-a4d6432b9a8d.jpg) Still from the American drama film Cock o' the Walk (1930). Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actors, actresses — Unknown photographerUnknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Cock_o%27_the_Walk_%28SAYRE_15378%29.jpg/1280px-Cock_o%27_the_Walk_%28SAYRE_15378%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Joseph Schildkraut](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-ab0b765fffbb.jpg) Joseph Schildkraut — Image via TMDB - ![Joseph Schildkraut](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-de483725800b.jpg) Joseph Schildkraut — Image via TMDB - ![Joseph Schildkraut](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-c59081051b03.jpg) Joseph Schildkraut — Image via TMDB - ![Photo of Chuck Connors as John Egan and guest star Joseph Schildkraut as his client in Arrest and Trial (1963).](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-960de8733696.jpg) Photo of Chuck Connors as John Egan and guest star Joseph Schildkraut as his client in Arrest and Trial (1963). — Photographer: Leigh Wiener, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Chuck_Connors_Joseph_Schildkraut_Arrest_and_Trial_1963.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Joseph Schildkraut](https://film.one/media/person/1227715/gallery-bd21601f34d8.jpg) Joseph Schildkraut — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won - 1938: Best Supporting Actor (won), for *The Life of Emile Zola* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/joseph-schildkraut