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Gustaf Gründgens | |
|---|---|
 Gründgens asHamlet (1936) | |
| Born | Gustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens (1899-12-22)22 December 1899 |
| Died | 7 October 1963(1963-10-07) (aged 63) Manila, Philippines |
| Years active | 1920–1963 |
| Spouse(s) | Erika Mann (1926–1929) Marianne Hoppe (1936–1946) |
| Children | Benedikt Johann Percy Gründgens |
Gustaf Gründgens (German:[ˈɡʊs.tafˈɡʁʏnt.ɡəns]ⓘ; 22 December 1899 – 7 October 1963), bornGustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens, was one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, and artistic director of theatres in Berlin,Düsseldorf, andHamburg. His career continued unimpeded through the years of theNazi regime; the extent to which this can be considered as deliberate collaboration with the Nazis is hotly disputed.
His best-known roles were that ofMephistopheles inGoethe'sFaust in 1960, and as "Der Schränker" (The Safecracker) who is the chief judge of thekangaroo court presiding over Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) inFritz Lang'sM.
Born inDüsseldorf, Gründgens attended the drama school of theDüsseldorfer Schauspielhaus afterWorld War I and started his career at smaller theaters inHalberstadt,Kiel, and Berlin.
In 1923, he joined theKammerspiele inHamburg, where he changed his first name to Gustaf and appeared as a director for the first time. In 1925, Gründgens wrote toKlaus Mann to propose a Hamburg production of Mann’s playAnja and Esther. Mann agreed, andAnja and Esther was performed in Hamburg with Gründgens directing and playing the role of Jakob. Mann played the role of Kaspar, while his sisterErika and his fiancée Pamela Wedekind played the lead roles of Anja and Esther.[1] The play marked the beginning of Gründgens’ collaborations with the Mann siblings and Wedekind, as well as the beginning of his romantic relationship with Klaus Mann.[1]
In 1928, he moved back to Berlin to join the renowned ensemble of theDeutsches Theater under the directorMax Reinhardt. Apart from spoken theatre, Gründgens also worked withOtto Klemperer at theKroll Opera, as acabaret artist and as a screen actor, most notably inFritz Lang's 1931 filmM, which significantly increased his popularity. From 1932 he was a member of thePrussian State Theatre ensemble, in which he first stood out in the role ofMephistopheles.
Gründgens' career continued after the Nazi partycame to power. In October 1934, he became theIntendant, or artistic director, of the Prussian State Theatre and, on 6 May 1936, PrussianMinister PresidentHermann Göring appointed him to the recently reconstitutedPrussian State Council.[2] He also became a member of the Presidential Council of theReichstheaterkammer (Theatre Chamber of the Reich), which was an institution of theReichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture). In 1941, Gründgens starred in the propaganda filmOhm Krüger; he also played the title role in the fictional biographical filmFriedemann Bach, which he also produced.
After Goebbels'stotal war speech on 18 February 1943, Gründgens volunteered for theWehrmacht but was again recalled by Göring, who had his name added to theGottbegnadeten list (Important Artist Exempt List).
Imprisoned by the SovietNKVD for 9 months in 1945 – 1946, Gründgens was released due to the intercession of theCommunist actorErnst Busch, whom Gründgens himself had saved from execution by the Nazis in 1943. During thedenazification process, his statements helped to exonerate acting colleagues, including Göring’s widow,Emmy, andVeit Harlan, director of the filmJud Süß.
Gründgens returned to the Deutsches Theater, later becameIntendant of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, and from 1955 directed theDeutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. He again performed as Mephistopheles; the 1960 filmFaust, directed by his adoptive sonPeter Gorski, was made with the Deutsches Schauspielhaus ensemble.
Gründgens became romantically involved withKlaus Mann while the two of them were performing in the Hamburg production of Mann’s playAnja and Esther. In 1926, while in a relationship with Klaus, Gründgens married Klaus's sisterErika Mann, who was herself in a relationship with Klaus's fiancée Pamela Wedekind.[1] By 1927, Erika and Gründgens were separated. They officially divorced in 1929, around the time that Gründgens’s relationship with Klaus ended.[3] Gründgens eventually became the basis of several characters in Klaus Mann’s fiction, including the character of Gregor Gregori inTreffpunkt im Unendlichen and the character of Hendrik Höfgen in the infamous novelMephisto.[1]
From 1936 to 1946, Gründgens was married to the famous German actressMarianne Hoppe. He had a son with her, Benedikt Johann Percy Gründgens, born in 1946. Despite theselavender marriages, Gründgens was widely known as homosexual. While other homosexuals were persecuted and sent to concentration camps during the Third Reich, Gründgens was tolerated by the Nazi elites because of his high reputation as an actor.[4]
On 7 October 1963, while traveling around the world, Gründgens died inManila of aninternal hemorrhage. It has never been ascertained whether or not he committed suicide by an overdose ofsleeping pills. His last words, written on an envelope, were, "I believe that I took too many sleeping pills. I feel a little strange. Let me sleep long." He is buried at theOhlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg.
Posthumously, Gründgens was involved in one of the more famous literary cases in 20th-century Germany as the subject of the novelMephisto by his former lover Klaus Mann, who had died in 1949. The novel, a thinly veiled account of Gründgens's life, portrayed its main character Hendrik Höfgen as having shady connections with the Nazi regime. Gründgens' adopted son and heir Peter Gorski, who had directedFaust, successfully sued the publisher on his late father's behalf in 1966. The judgment was upheld by theFederal Court of Justice in 1968.
In the time-consuming lawsuit, the controversy overlibel and the freedom of fiction from censorship was finally decided by theFederal Constitutional Court in 1971. It ruled that Gründgens' post-mortempersonality rights prevailed and upheld the prohibition imposed on the publisher.[5] However, the novel met with no further protests when it was published again in 1981 byRowohlt.
In 1981, the novel was made into the filmMephisto, directed byIstván Szabó, withKlaus Maria Brandauer in the role of Hendrik Höfgen. The film was a huge commercial and critical success, and won theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1981.
