Francis Lederer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 – May 25, 2000) was a Czech-born film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was František Lederer. Lederer's first American movies were Man of Two Worlds (1934), Romance in Manhattan (1934), with Ginger Rogers, The Gay Deception (1935), with Frances Dee, and One Rainy Afternoon (1936). He was cast as the lead with Katharine Hepburn in the 1935 film Break of Hearts, but the producers replaced him with Charles Boyer. It was Irving Thalberg's plan to make Lederer "the biggest star in Hollywood" but the death of Thalberg ended this possibility.
Although he continued to play leads occasionally – notably when he was a playboy in Mitchell Leisen's Midnight with Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore in 1939 – in the late 1930s Lederer began to expand his character parts, even playing villains. Edward G. Robinson praised Lederer's performance as a German American Bundist in Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939, and he earned plaudits for his portrayal of a fascist in The Man I Married (1940) with Joan Bennett. He also played Count Dracula for The Return of Dracula in 1958. Throughout his career, Lederer, who studied with Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City, continued to take stage acting seriously, and he performed often both in New York and elsewhere. He appeared in stage productions of Golden Boy (1937), Seventh Heaven (1939), No Time for Comedy (1939), in which he replaced Laurence Olivier, The Play's the Thing (1942), A Doll's House (1944), Arms and the Man (1950), The Sleeping Prince (1956) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1958).
Although he took a break from making films in 1941, in order to concentrate on his stage work, he returned to the silver screen in 1944, appearing in Voice in the Wind and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and in films such as Jean Renoir's The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Million Dollar Weekend (1948). He took another break from Hollywood in 1950, after making Surrender (1950), and returned in 1956 with Lisbon and the light comedy The Ambassador's Daughter. His final film appearance was in Terror Is a Man in 1959. During the 1950s, he served as honorary mayor of Canoga Park.
He would continue to make television appearances for the next 10 years in such shows as Sally, The Untouchables, Ben Casey, Blue Light, Mission: Impossible and That Girl. His final television appearance occurred in a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery called "The Devil Is Not Mocked". In it, he reprised his role as Dracula from The Return of Dracula.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 16.997 |
Birthday | 1899-11-05 |
Place of Birth | Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic] |
Also Known As | Franz Lederer, František Lederer, |
1929
Pandora's Box
7.5/228
Lulu is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publish...
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Pandora's Box
1939
Midnight
7.4/79
An unemployed showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian society.
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Midnight
1930
Susie Cleans Up
0/0
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Susie Cleans Up
1944
Voice in the Wind
5.2/11
Former concert pianist, victim of Nazi torture, pursues a confused, melancholic existence on the island of Guadalupe.
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Voice in the Wind
1946
The Madonna's Secret
5.9/5
This drama is an updated version of Ulmer's 1944 film Bluebeard. It is set in New York and follows the exploits of an eccentric Parisian painter who h...
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The Madonna's Secret
1953
Stolen Identity
4.6/9
A jealous musician kills his wife and frames a cab driver.
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Stolen Identity
1948
Million Dollar Weekend
5.5/8
A stock broker embezzles a million bucks and plans to take off to Shanghai. A number of obstacles stands in his path, however.
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Million Dollar Weekend
1946
The Diary of a Chambermaid
6.258/31
Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlai...
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The Diary of a Chambermaid
1991
The Other Eye
0/0
This film essay explores the strange case of G.W. Pabst, the Austrian filmmaker who was considered a giant of early cinema before his reputation went...
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The Other Eye
1958
The Return of Dracula
5.5/65
After a vampire leaves his native Balkans, he murders a Czech artist, assumes his identity, and moves in with the dead man's American cousins.
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The Return of Dracula
1935
The Gay Deception
6.4/7
A wide-eyed working girl wins a $5,000 sweepstakes and plunges into the lush life of New York City, where she meets a bellboy who is more than he seem...
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The Gay Deception
1959
Terror is a Man
4.2/23
A mad scientist transforms a panther into a man-like creature that escapes and goes on a murderous rampage.
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Terror is a Man
1939
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
6/28
FBI agent Ed Renard investigates the pre-War espionage activities of the German-American Bund.
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Confessions of a Nazi Spy
1944
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
6/2
A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their deaths. A priest sets out to find out more about the lif...
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The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1929
Mother Hummingbird
4/2
A neglected Baroness falls in love with her oldest son's military officer friend, their adulterous romance leading the two to flee to Algeria.
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Mother Hummingbird
1938
The Lone Wolf in Paris
6/3
Former jewel thief Michael Lanyard toys with a princess and a grand duke.
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The Lone Wolf in Paris
1950
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
5.5/16
Near the end of World War II, a secret American raid on an enemy transportation hub goes very wrong when a turncoat warns the enemy. Led by Capt. Webs...
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Captain Carey, U.S.A.
1950
A Woman of Distinction
6.2/4
Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Alec Stevenson, British lecturer on astronomy, touri...
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A Woman of Distinction
1991
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
10/1
A history of the famous vampire of books and movies, using film clips, previews and other methods.
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Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
1929
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna
7/8
This silent-screen classic, like many others produced near the end of the silent era, was both a theatrical extravaganza boasting an original orchestr...
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The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna
1934
The Pursuit of Happiness
5.8/6
Lederer is a Hessian soldier who defects to the Americans during the Revolutionary War.He falls in love with a Yankee girl, but a thuggish local milit...
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The Pursuit of Happiness
1936
One Rainy Afternoon
4.6/10
Suave French actor Philippe Martin provokes a scandal when, in a darkened theater, he mistakes young Monique for his mistress, Yvonne, and tries to ki...
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One Rainy Afternoon
1936
My American Wife
0/0
Ann Sothern essays the title role in My American Wife. The story opens in Smelter City, Arizona, where the richest man in town is grizzled old Indian...
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My American Wife
1935
Romance in Manhattan
8.1/10
Karel Novak is an incredibly naive Czech immigrant who is taken under the wing of streetwise New York chorus girl Sylvia. With the help of lovable cop...
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Romance in Manhattan
1940
The Man I Married
6.3/13
An American vacations in Europe with her husband and watches him turn into a Nazi.
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The Man I Married
1934
Man of Two Worlds
6/1
A British explorer brings an Eskimo hunter to London, where he misreads a woman.
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Man of Two Worlds
1958
Maracaibo
5.2/2
A firefighter is sent to Venezuela to battle a blazing oil well but still finds time for romance.
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Maracaibo
1956
Lisbon
6.4/10
For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involv...
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Lisbon
1937
It's All Yours
5/2
Jimmy Barnes arrives from Europe to be educated by his multi-millionaire uncle, Edward J. Barnes and in five years the extravagant escapes of Jimmy, n...
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It's All Yours
1929
Meineid
0/0
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Meineid
1937
Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
5/1
A tour of Hollywood, featuring such star frequented spots as the Vendome, the Lakeside Golf Club, the West Side Tennis Club, the Santa Anita Racetrack...
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Screen Snapshots: Series 16, No. 12
1930
Fundvogel
0/0
Young Jan Bergwall visits his grandmother, the so-called centenary, at Woyland Castle. There he meets his cousin Andrea, who everyone calls "Fundvogel...
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Fundvogel
1941
Puddin' Head
5/1
On the day that United Broadcasting System's new building is dedicated, bumbling vice-president Harold L. Montgomery, Sr. discovers that he gave the w...
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Puddin' Head
1930
The Great Longing
6/1
During lunch break at the movie studio, the extras rush to the canteen Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Maria Paudler and Luis Trenker are chatting. Eva von L...
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The Great Longing
1930
The Road to Dishonour
0/0
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The Road to Dishonour
1933
Her Majesty Love
0/0
Fred von Wellingen is a wealthy industrialist, part of a large family-owned corporation. Fred has fallen for Lia, a comely bartender in the Berlin Cab...
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Her Majesty Love
1956
The Ambassador's Daughter
4.3/7
While on leave in Paris, a G.I. pursues an ambassador's daughter. Meanwhile she's out to prove to her father that soldiers can be gentlemen, too.
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The Ambassador's Daughter
1950
Surrender
4.8/4
Violet Barton, a femme-fatale goal-setter, fascinates men and readily returns their affection to obtain the wealth she desires, even to the point of b...
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Surrender
1952
Adventures in Vienna
8.3/5
Taking place over 12 hours on New Years Eve, a concert pianist murders his wife's lover, then frames an innocent man.
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Adventures in Vienna
1930
The emperor's detective
0/0
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The emperor's detective
1928
Die seltsame Nacht der Helga Wangen
0/0
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Die seltsame Nacht der Helga Wangen
1931
The Fate of Renate Langen
0/0
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The Fate of Renate Langen
1935
Starlit Days at the Lido
5/5
Basically this is a commercial for Hollywood's Lido Lounge and for MGM contract players. The Lido is a large watering hole; we visit one afternoon wit...
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Starlit Days at the Lido
1976
Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
0/0
The film tells the cultural story of Berlin during the Weimar Republic through interviews with a number of persons who were involved in literature, fi...
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Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
1996
A Century of Science Fiction
6.9/4
American Documentary, narrated by Christopher Lee
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A Century of Science Fiction
1928
Refuge
0/0
After eight years in exile Martin returns to Berlin. He was involved in the German Revolution of 1918/1919 and had to leave the country as a result. I...
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Refuge
2009
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
7.5/12
This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.
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1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
1929
Atlantic
6.5/2
German-language version. "Atlantic" is a drama film based on the sinking of the RMS "Titanic" and set aboard a fictional ship, called the "Atlantic"....
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