Emil Jannings (bornTheodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss-born German actor who was popular inHollywood films in the 1920s. He was the first recipient of theAcademy Award for Best Actor for starring roles inThe Last Command andThe Way of All Flesh. As of 2025, Jannings is the only German to win in that category.

Emil Jannings
Janningsc. 1926
Born	Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz (1884-07-23)23 July 1884 Rorschach, Switzerland
Died	2 January 1950(1950-01-02) (aged 65) Strobl,Allied-occupied Austria
Nationality	German
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1914–1945
Spouses	Lucy Höfling[1] (divorced 1919) Hanna Ralph ​ ​ (m. 1919;div. 1921)​ Lucie Höflich ​ ​ (m. 1921;div. 1921)​ Gussy Holl ​ (m. 1923)​
Children	1
Signature

Jannings is best known for his collaborations withF. W. Murnau andJosef von Sternberg, including the 1930 filmThe Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel), withMarlene Dietrich.The Blue Angel was meant as a vehicle for Jannings to score a place for himself in the new medium ofsound film, but Dietrich stole the show. Jannings later starred in a number ofNazi propaganda films, which made him unemployable as an actor after the defeat ofNazi Germany.

Jannings was born inRorschach, Switzerland, the son of Emil Janenz, an American businessman fromSt. Louis, and his wife Margarethe (née Schwabe), originally from Germany.^[2][3] Jannings held German citizenship; while he was still young the family moved toLeipzig in theGerman Empire and further toGörlitz after the early death of his father.

Jannings ran away from school and went to sea. When he returned to Görlitz, his mother finally allowed him to begin a traineeship at the town state theatre, where he started his stage career. From 1901 onwards he worked with several theatre companies inBremen,Nuremberg, Leipzig,Königsberg, andGlogau before joining theDeutsches Theater ensemble under directorMax Reinhardt in Berlin.^[4] Permanently employed since 1915, Jannings met with playwrightKarl Vollmöller, fellow actorErnst Lubitsch, and photographerFrieda Riess. After World War I all were at the heart ofWeimar Culture in1920s Berlin. Jannings made his breakthrough in 1918 with his role as Judge Adam in Kleist'sBroken Jug at theSchauspielhaus.

Jannings was a theater actor who went into films, though he remained dissatisfied with the limited expressive possibilities in the silent era. Having signed a contract with theUFA production company, he starred inDie Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy, 1918) andMadame DuBarry (1919), both withPola Negri in the main female part. He also performed in the 1922 film version ofOthello and inF. W. Murnau's 1924 filmThe Last Laugh (Der Letzte Mann), as a proud but aged hotel doorman who is demoted to a restroom attendant. Jannings worked with Murnau on two other films; playing the title character inTartuffe (Herr Tartüff, 1925), and asMephistopheles inFaust (1926).

His increasing popularity enabled Jannings to sign an agreement withParamount Pictures and eventually follow his acting colleagues Lubitsch and Negri toHollywood. His first film there,The Way of All Flesh, directed byVictor Fleming and nowlost, was released in 1927, and in the following year he performed inJosef von Sternberg'sThe Last Command. In 1929, Jannings won the firstBest ActorOscar for his work in both films. He and Sternberg also cooperated inStreet of Sin (1928), though they actually differed about Jannings' acting in front of the camera.

His Hollywood career came to an end with the advent oftalkies as his thick German accent was difficult to understand. His dialogue was initially dubbed by another actor in the part-talkieThe Patriot (1928) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, although Jannings' own voice was restored after he objected. Returning to Europe, he starred oppositeMarlene Dietrich in the 1930 filmThe Blue Angel, which was filmed simultaneously inEnglish with its German versionDer blaue Engel.

According toSusan Orlean, author ofRin Tin Tin: The Life and The Legend, Jannings was not actually the winner of the first best actor vote, but the runner-up. While researching her book, Orlean thought she discovered that it was in factRin Tin Tin, theGerman Shepherd dog, one of the biggest movie stars of his time, who won the vote. The Academy, however, worried about not being taken seriously if they gave the first Oscar to a dog, chose to award the Oscar to the human runner-up.^[5] However, this story has been labeled as absolutely not true by other sources.^[6][7]

In 1960, Jannings was posthumously honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 1630 Vine Street for his contribution to motion pictures.^[8]

After the Naziseizure of power in 1933, Jannings continued his career in the service ofNazi cinema. InNazi Germany, he starred in several films that were intended to promoteNazism, particularly theFührerprinzip by presenting unyielding historical characters, such asDer alte und der junge König (The Old and the Young King 1934),Der Herrscher (The Ruler 1937) directed byVeit Harlan,Robert Koch (1939),Ohm Krüger (Uncle Kruger, 1941) andDie Entlassung (Bismarck's Dismissal, 1942).^[9] He also performed in his role inThe Broken Jug directed byGustav Ucicky. Minister of PropagandaJoseph Goebbels named Jannings an "Artist of the State" (Staatsschauspieler)^[10]

The shooting of his last filmWo ist Herr Belling? was aborted when troops of theAllied Powers entered Germany in spring 1945. Jannings reportedly carried his Oscar statuette with him as proof of his former association with Hollywood. However, his active role inNazi propaganda meant that he was subject todenazification, effectively ending his career.

In the same period Dietrich became a US citizen and an influential anti-Nazi activist, spending much of the war entertaining troops on the front lines and broadcasting on behalf of theOSS. Dietrich particularly loathed Jannings for his Nazi ties, and would later refer to her former co-star as a "ham".^[11]

After the war with his reputation stained by his work with the Nazi government, he never worked as an actor again.^[12]

Jannings retired toStrobl nearSalzburg, Austria, and became an Austrian citizen in 1947.^[4] He died in 1950, aged 65, fromliver cancer.^[13] He is buried in theSt. Wolfgang cemetery. His Best Actor Oscar is now on display at theBerlin Filmmuseum.

Jannings was married four times. His first three marriages ended in divorce, his last with his death. His last three marriages were to German stage and film actresses,Hanna Ralph,Lucie Höflich, andGussy Holl.^[9] He had a daughter, Ruth-Maria (born 1920), from his first marriage to Lucy Höfling.^[14][15]

• Hilmar Eichhorn [de] portrayed a fictionalized version of Jannings inInglourious Basterds (2009), directed byQuentin Tarantino. This fictional version of Jannings dies at the end of the film.
• In the 1972 filmCabaret, singerSally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) finds herself at a high-society dinner party; she tries to impress someone at the table by suggesting that she is a friend of Emil Jannings.
• In Series 1 of the BBC's epic Second World War dramaWorld on Fire (2019) American journalist Nancy Campbell, played byHelen Hunt, accepts an invitation from neighbours in Berlin to see the latest Emil Jannings film, saying: “Well, I love Emil Jannings, and I loved him inThe Blue Angel.”

• List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of actors with Academy Award nominations

• Frank Noack:Jannings. Belleville, München 2009ISBN 978-3-933510-50-1
• Carl Zuckmayer:Geheimreport. Hrsg. von Gunther Nickel und Johanna Schrön. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2002,ISBN 3-89244-599-0; pp. 136–45
• Emil Jannings:Theater, Film – Das Leben und ich. Autobiographie. Berchtesgaden: Verlag Zimmer & Herzog, 1951. (posthumous)
• Herbert Ihering:Emil Jannings: Baumeister seines Lebens und seiner Filme. Heidelberg 1941

• Emil Jannings atIMDb
• Photographs of Emil Jannings
• Newspaper clippings about Emil Jannings in the20th Century Press Archives of theZBW