Siegfried Breuer

Biography

Viennese character actor, an earlier incarnation of Peter Bowles, who specialized in elegant, charming rogues and, on occasion, sinister types. Breuer, the son of a Wagnerian singer, was trained as an actor in Vienna (from 1924) where he studied alongside Paula Wessely and 'Kathe Gold'. He performed on the stage in Berlin under the direction of Max Reinhardt in 'The Prince of Homburg', his first leading role, and in 1935 became a member of the ensemble cast of the Deutsches Theater. From the late 1930's, Breuer became much in demand for movie roles where he developed his particular style of suave, but shifty, bon vivant. He gave his best performance in Gustav Ucicky's classic Le maître de poste (1940), as Minskij, and in Helmut Käutner's Lumière dans la nuit (1943). He was, on occasion, seen in operatic parts which called for that certain Viennese charm, as in Immortal Waltz (1939)and the remake of La chauve-souris (1946). Carol Reed cast him (for added continental flavour) alongside several other noted Austrian players in The Third Man (1949), as Popescu, a small part but one which is somewhat integral to the development of the story. Siegfried Breuer died young, aged just 47. In that short life, he was married six times. His wives included the Austrian star actress Maria Andergast.