Felix Bressart

German actor Felix Bressart made his stage debut in 1914, and his film bow in 1928's Liebe Im Kuhstall (1928). Forced out of Germany by the Nazis, Bressart came to the United States in 1936, concentrating on theatrical work until his first American film, Swanee River (1939). Two of his best screen roles were for director and fellow German expatriate Ernst Lubitsch: the hilariously hedonistic Soviet agent Buljanoff in Ninotchka (1939), and the deceptively mild-mannered Jewish actor Greenberg in To Be or Not to Be (1942). While playing the role of Professor Kropotkin in the 1949 film version of the popular radio series My Friend Irma, Felix Bressart died; he was replaced by the radio program's Kropotkin, Hans Conried, though Bressart still can be glimpsed in long shots.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide