Oskar Homolka

Biography

Oskar Homolka was born on August 12, 1898 in Vienna, where he studied acting at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts from 1915 to 1917. In 1918 he made his theater debut at the Vienna Komödienhaus, followed by appearances on various Viennese stages and at the Salzburg Stadttheater. In 1924 he joined the Münchner Kammerspiele, where he attracted attention not only for his acting talent but also for his problems with alcohol. According to some sources, he appeared drunk on stage several times. In 1925 Homolka moved to Berlin and worked at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater until 1935, playing important roles such as the title role in Bertolt Brecht's "Baal" (1926) in Brecht's own production.

In addition to his work at the Deutsches Theater, he also appeared at the Junge Bühne Berlin, the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, the Deutsches Künstlertheater, and the Lessingtheater. His roles included Mephisto in Goethe's "Faust" (1932) and Professor Henry Higgins in Shaw's "Pygmalion" (1932). He made numerous appearances at the Salzburg Festival, often directed by Max Reinhardt, including roles such as "Der Reiche" in "Das große Salzburger Welttheater" (1925, opposite Hans Moser and Wilhelm Dieterle) and Mammon in "Everyman" (1926).

Homolka made his film debut in 1926 as a wealthy playboy in the silent classic "K 13 513. Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheines" ("Uneasy Money"). In the following years he took on more and more film roles in addition to his extensive stage work. Due to his imposing physical appearance and expressive eyebrows, he often played unpredictable and sinister characters in silent films, such as a burly pimp alongside Asta Nielsen in "Dirnentragödie" ("Tragedy of the Street", 1927) and its sound remake "Zwischen Nacht und Morgen" ("Between Night and Dawn", 1931). In the film "Der Kampf des Donald Westhof" ("The Trial of Donald Westhof", 1927) he portrayed a despotic husband, while in the adaptation of the scandalous play "Revolte im Erziehungshaus" ("Revolt in the Reformatory", 1930) he played a cunning, authoritarian educator. In "Masken" ("Masks", 1930), the last of the popular "Stuart Webbs" detective film series, he played a bank robber named Breitkopf. An exception to his typical roles was the character of Dr. Horner in "Die Rothausgasse" ("The Green Alley", 1928), an educated and humanistic freethinker who wants to help a prostitute out of a mixture of infatuation and paternal friendship.

In sound films too, Homolka was usually typecast as either a villain or an authoritative figure. He played the presiding judge in "Hokuspokus" ("Hocuspocus", 1930), the historical spy Esterházy in "Dreyfus" (1930) and an unscrupulous human trafficker in "Der Weg nach Rio" ("Road to Rio", 1931). His last film made in Germany was "Spione am Werk" ("Spies at Work", 1933), in which he played a supporting role as a secret agent.

After the Nazis came to power Homolka emigrated to Austria in 1933, where in the crime movie "Unsichtbare Gegner" ("Invisible Opponent", 1933) he portrayed a henchman of a gangster boss. From 1928 to 1933 he was married to the actress Grete Mosheim, who was defamed by the Nazis as a "half Jew" and also fled to Austria.

In 1935 Homolka emigrated to Great Britain, where he made his English-language theater debut in Glasgow and seamlessly continued his film career. He portrayed Buren President Paul Kruger, nicknamed "Ohm Kruger," in "Rhodes of Africa" (1936) for fellow emigre director Berthold Viertel. Alfred Hitchcock cast him as the movie theater owner and spy Verloc in "Sabotage" (UK 1936), a role that brought Homolka international recognition and demand.

In 1937 Homolka moved to the U.S. where he remained in demand on Broadway as well as in Hollywood. He played a dangerous knife-thrower in the romance film "Seven Sinners" (1940) opposite Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne. In Howard Hawks' screwball comedy "Ball of Fire" (1941), he showed off his comedic talents as an eccentric professor. One of his most memorable roles was as Russian politician Maxim Litvinov in Michael Curtiz's political drama "Mission to Moscow" (1943). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a free-spirited, slightly vulgar uncle in George Stevens' family drama "I Remember Mama" (1948).

In 1944 Oskar Homolka co-signed the Declaration of the Council for a Democratic Germany. From 1946 he became involved in the popular émigré ensemble The Players from Abroad in New York, a German-language theater that Grete Mosheim, who had also left Austria for New York, had previously co-founded. In 1950 he returned to Austria, where director Karl Hartl cast him in the lead role in the marriage drama "Der schweigende Mund" (AT 1951) - his last role in a German-language production for many years. The reasons for this change are unknown.

After that Homolka appeared mainly in international productions. He excelled as a psychiatrist in Billy Wilder's comedy classic "The Seven Year Itch" (US 1955) and portrayed the Tsarist General Field Marshal Kutuzov in King Vidor's adaptation of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" (US/IT 1956). He also made guest appearances in various U.S. television series from the mid-1950s.

He played a cruel servant in William Castle's horror film "Mr. Sardonicus" (1961) and a Viking opposite Richard Widmark in "The Long Ships" (1964). He portrayed a cunning Russian colonel in the spy film "Funeral in Berlin" (1966) and its sequel "Billion Dollar Brain" (1967), both starring Michael Caine.

In 1967 Homolka was honored in Germany with the Filmband in Gold for his "many years of outstanding work in German film". His most important roles, however, were in England and the USA. His last role in Germany was as a detective in Peter Zadek's TV production "Van der Valk und das Mädchen" (1972).

Oskar Homolka, who was last married to actress Joan Tetzel from 1949 until her death in 1977, died of pneumonia on January 28, 1978 in Tunbridge Wells, England.