Kliegl was one of eight children of the spa musician Adam Tiberius Kliegl and his wife Therese Ströhlein. Anton Kliegl's grandfather
Johann Kliegl came with his orchestra from
Bohemia to
Bad Kissingen in 1836, where he founded the
Kurorchester Bad Kissingen ("Bad Kissingen Spa Orchestra") in 1837. In 1893, Anton Kliegl, then 21 years old and trained as a
plumber, followed his elder brother
Johann (1869–1959) to New York City, United States. Johann had emigrated earlier, in 1888. There they both worked in a factory which manufactured
electric arc lamps. They bought the factory in 1896, and renamed it as their own company,
Kliegl Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company. The company specialized in stage technology and stage effects, which they themselves designed. The company was one of the first of its kind. On December 27, 1902, Kliegl married Leopoldine Herbig. They had no children. In 1911 Kliegl invented the
carbon arc lamp still known as
Klieg light, which produced double the brightness with the same energy needs as contemporary lamps of that time, and was specifically used for
stage lighting and filming. In the
silent film era he developed many new
special effects for movies such as
Ben Hur and
Wizard of Oz. Kliegl gave generous donations to his home town of Bad Kissingen – the Kliegl children's park, the Anton Kliegl Elementary School, feeding the poor, a nursery, a children's recreation center, and the interior of the council hall in the Old Town Hall benefited from his generosity. Kliegl died in Bad Kissingen in 1927 and is buried in the
Woodlawn Cemetery in the
Bronx,
New York. == Honors ==