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Werner, Oskar (1922-1984)
Copyright: IMAGNO/Barbara Pflaum
Oskar Werner was born Josef Bschließmayer on 13 November 1922 in Vienna. During his school years Werner, who grew up at his grandmother’s home, participated in school plays and performed at a revue show and a small cellar theater. Generally regarded as one of Western Europe's leading stage actors, Oskar Werner was 18 years old when he made his first appearance at the Vienna Burgtheater, where he was engaged in 1949, again between 1951 and 1955 and in the early 1960ies. Although Werner was forced to join the army in 1941, he was still allowed to perform at the Burgtheater. In 1944 he married, became father to a baby girl, deserted from the army and went into hiding until the end of WW II.
After the war Werner resumed his theatrical career with performances at the Salzburg Festival Weeks, the Vienna Volkstheater and Raimundtheater in 1947. He made his first film debut in “Der Engel mit der Posaune” in 1948. In 1950 the charismatic actor was given a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. After his English-language film debut in “Decision Before Dawn” the actor terminated the contract and returned to Vienna. In the early 1950ies he guested at Theater in der Josefstadt, German and Swiss stages and at the Salzburg Festival. His good looks, charisma and mesmerizing, poetic voice made him a famous and much sought-after stage (“Hamlet”) and TV actor.
Werner's definitive screen performance was the romantic intellectual Jules in François Truffaut's “Jules et Jim” (1962), and became an international star as a result, though it was his portrayal of the philosophical Dr. Schumann in “Ship of Fools” (1965) that earned the actor his only Golden Globe nomination. In 1965 he acted in “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” together with Richard Burton; in 1966 he starred in Truffaut’s "Fahrenheit 451". His last movie was “Voyage of the Damned” in 1976. In his last years Oskar Werner mainly made a name of himself as reciter of Rainer Maria Rilke and Josef Weinheber. Oskar Werner died on 23 October 1984 in Marburg an der Lahn, just before he was scheduled to deliver a lecture at a German drama club.
Oskar Werner Fan Page
Austrian Film Archives
After the war Werner resumed his theatrical career with performances at the Salzburg Festival Weeks, the Vienna Volkstheater and Raimundtheater in 1947. He made his first film debut in “Der Engel mit der Posaune” in 1948. In 1950 the charismatic actor was given a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. After his English-language film debut in “Decision Before Dawn” the actor terminated the contract and returned to Vienna. In the early 1950ies he guested at Theater in der Josefstadt, German and Swiss stages and at the Salzburg Festival. His good looks, charisma and mesmerizing, poetic voice made him a famous and much sought-after stage (“Hamlet”) and TV actor.
Werner's definitive screen performance was the romantic intellectual Jules in François Truffaut's “Jules et Jim” (1962), and became an international star as a result, though it was his portrayal of the philosophical Dr. Schumann in “Ship of Fools” (1965) that earned the actor his only Golden Globe nomination. In 1965 he acted in “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” together with Richard Burton; in 1966 he starred in Truffaut’s "Fahrenheit 451". His last movie was “Voyage of the Damned” in 1976. In his last years Oskar Werner mainly made a name of himself as reciter of Rainer Maria Rilke and Josef Weinheber. Oskar Werner died on 23 October 1984 in Marburg an der Lahn, just before he was scheduled to deliver a lecture at a German drama club.
Oskar Werner Fan Page
Austrian Film Archives
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