Wolfgang Zilzer

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BIRTHDAY

January 20, 1891

Cincinnati, OH

DIED

June 26, 1991

RECENT CREDITS

Mister Buddwing (FILM) Jan. 1, 1966

Casablanca (FILM) Nov. 26, 1942

Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (FILM) Feb. 28, 1931

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BIOGRAPHY

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Born in Ohio to German parents, thin, frightened-looking Wolfgang Zilzer was a well-known stage and silent screen actor in Germany in the 1920s. After playing Wolfchen in Alraune (1928) and Gina Manés' cuckolded husband in Shadows of Fear (1928), Zilzer came to America where to his surprise he discovered that he already held American citizenship. After a stint on the stage, he entered American films in 1939 under the name of John Voight and became a constant presence in World War II melodramas. Having billed himself Wolfgang Zilzer in such films as Casablanca ([1942] as the desperate man with expired papers) and Hitler's Madman (as a German colonel), he changed his name once again, this time to Paul Andor, and offered a chillingly accurate portrayal of infamous propaganda minister Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, whom he somewhat resembled, in Enemy of Women (1944). Although primarily a stage actor, Andor/Zilzer continued in films through the early '80s, including an appearance as Ludendorf in the bizarre Union City (1979) and as an analyst in the Dudley Moore comedy Lovesick (1983).

~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

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