Un tributo italiano ad Anton Walbrook

He was born Adolf Wohlbrück in Vienna, Austria, descended from ten generations of actors. His father broke with tradition and was a circus clown. Walbrook studied with the director Max Reinhardt and built up a career in Austrian theatre and cinema.

In 1936 he went to Hollywood to reshoot dialogue for the multinational The Soldier and the Lady (1937), in the process changing his name from Adolf to Anton. With the rise of oppression in Nazi Germany, instead of returning to Austria, he settled in England, and continued as working as a cinema actor. High points include the dashing, intense German officer Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), the tyrannical impresario in The Red Shoes (1948) and the ringmaster in La Ronde (1950). One of his most unusual films is the 1948 Queen of Spades, an odd, gothic thriller in which he co-starred with Edith Evans.

Co-star Moira Shearer said Walbrook was a loner on set, often wearing dark glasses and eating alone.[1] He retired from films at the end of the 1950s, and in later years appeared on the European stage and television. He died of a heart attack in Garatshausen, Germany in 1967. His ashes were interred in the graveyard of St. John's Church, Hampstead, London, as he had wished in his testament.

I chose a movement from Brahms's Op 77 concerto because Anton included it in his Desert Island Discs BBC programme in the '50's. Hope you enjoy!

Fans italiani fatevi sentire!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• anton
• walbrook
• adolf
• wohlbrück

[ishmyl99]

A fine and elegant tribute. Surely appreciated by any Walbrook fan. Many thanks.

[leopoldinedur]

@ishmyl99 thank you very much :)

[ladynw777]

can you make a video with some of the other pieces of music he chose as the brahms 77 concerto is so lovely?

[leopoldinedur]

Well, I'd like to, but I don't have new images at the moment...if I can find something new I'll make it! Thanks for the appreciation!

[parlophonman]

Thank you SO MUCH for this BEAUTIFUL tribute

to this GREAT actor !

You really did it with much love and understanding !

[leopoldinedur]

You're welcome! Thanks to you indeed, I'm so glad when I find someone who likes this tribute to A.W.

[MichaelVie]

Thanks very much, really wonderful! Where are gentlemen-actors like this today?

[troth71]

Thank you very much for this beautiful video!!! He was a real gentleman... ^^

[ishmyl99]

Anton Bomb.

Charisma to burn. Epitome of smart-is-sexy. And what masculine confidence. A rare thing these days -- in any male, whatever his sexuality -- and what needn't shout to convince. A man's either got it or he doesn't. And Walbrook had it. In smoldering spades. A truly magnetic screen presence. One as distinct & captivating as that of Tracy, Bogart, Mitchum, Holden, Marvin, Mifune, or Eastwood.Though by no means invulnerable, men not easily unraveled by others, secure in who they are.

[ishmyl99]

@leopoldinedur Thank YOU for the time, effort, and care you put into your tribute. Mr. Walbrook's career deserves critical revival. If audiences have the good fortune to ever see such a resurgence, film organizers would do well to take a cue from the refinement of your approach. Its subtle tone and sophistication is altogether fitting with your subject. And where your selection here of the movement from Brahms's Op 77 concerto is sublime accompaniment. Kudos.

[ishmyl99]

@AmMedAss1 Full sail ;-)

[alexwohlbruck1]

of course one of my ansestors was a circus clown. :P

[ricardotorresz]

EXCELENTE MUSICA PARA RECORDAR