Born: Jan 27, 1901 in Kattowitz, Germany (now Katowice Poland)
Died: Jul 13, 1973 in Hamburg, Germany
Occupation: Actor
Active: '20s-'50s
Major Genres: Romance, Drama
Career Highlights: Glückskinder, Woman in the Moon, Spies
First Major Screen Credit: Ein Walzertraum (1926)
Biography
German leading man Willy Fritsch gave up an engineering career to study with Austrian theatrical entrepreneur Max Reinhardt. At 21, Fritsch made his movie bow in the oft-filmed Razzia. As popular as he was in silent films, Fritsch doubled his popularity once talking pictures were able to reproduce his splendid singing voice. The star of many an escapist operetta of the 1930s and 1940s, Fritsch was at his best opposite the lovely Lillian Harvey in such frothy filmed concoctions as Three From the Filling Station (1930) and Congress Dances (1931). He managed to survive the Hitler era without any loss of prestige, and continued to appear on stage and in films until the early 1960s; his final film was 1964's Verleibt in Heidelberg. Willy Fritsch was the father of actor Thomas Fritsch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Born Wilhelm Anton Frohs in Kattowitz in GermanSilesia, in 1912 he moved with his family to Berlin, where he planned to become a mechanic. In 1919 he debuted with a small role at prestigious Max Reinhardt Denkmal theatre, and made his feature debut in films as a supporting player in 1921's Miss Venus. Fritsch remained a popular juvenile figure in films and the theater, but his real success came after being paired with Lilian Harvey in 1928, and they appeared regularly together in movies released every year thereafter until 1937. He managed to survive the Hitler era without any loss of prestige, and continued to appear on stage and in films until the early 1960s; his final film was 1964's I Learned It From Father.