Born in
Saloniki, Ottoman Empire (now in Greece), his father was a tobacco merchant and his mother, an Italian emigree. As was customary in high-standing Ottoman families at the time, his mother tongue was French, and, in 1896, he moved to Vienna with his mother to attend high school. In 1929 he was the first actor to be awarded the title "Kammerschauspieler", as he regarded as its star actor. After the
Anchluss, he was listed on
Joseph Goebbels' Gottbegnadeten list as a crucial representative of National Socialist culture, and thus exempt of all military movilisation. Despite this, he was publicly known to be in opposition to the regime, After the war, served as director of the
Burgtheater from 1945 to 1948, and continued acting until his death. From 1934 onwards, he shared an apartment with his partner Tonio Riedl. He died in Seewalchen am Attersee in 1958 and was buried at the Grinzinger cemetery in Vienna. ==Quotes==