Influences on Hollywood by People
from Austria, Germany and Switzerland
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Fred Astaire’s father came to America from Austria. Photo from the Maureen Solomon Collection. |
From its earliest days Hollywood has been an international affair.
The Germanic impact (Austrian, German and German-Swiss) on Hollywood is often underestimated or even ignored. But the fact is that Hollywood — without its decades of Teutonic influence — would not be the center of the world’s entertainment industry that it is today. True, there have been other influences from France, Italy, Russia, Japan, Great Britain and other sources, but just as people of Germanic heritage make up the largest single ethnic element other than Anglo-Saxon in the United States, no other single influence on American cinema has been greater than that from the German-speaking world. (And that’s not even counting the Austrian Arnold!)
There were three main waves of Hollywood immigration from German-speaking Europe. More...
• Also see Cinema News on the right. > >
German-Hollywood Connections
- Herbert Grönemeyer is Germany's best-known and most successful singer, actor and composer. He also created the music for The American, starring George Clooney. More…
- Berlinale | About the annual Berlin International Film Festival in February. More...
- Famous German Movies | Beginning with the early silent era, films from Germany have made their mark on world cinema—and influenced Hollywood. More...
- Germans (and Others) in Hollywood | About the three main waves of Germanic immigration to Hollywood. More...
- Filmmakers and Screen Actors with
German-Hollywood Connections - Ursula Andress | Swiss-born actress best known for her bikini-clad role in Dr. No, the first James Bond movie in 1962.
- Michael Ballhaus | This German-born cinematographer came to Hollywood from Germany in the 1980s. He has worked often with director Martin Scorsese. More...
- Leonardo DiCaprio | His middle name is Wilhelm and he has a German mother. - Also see an Interview with DiCaprio’s Oma (his German grandmother).
- Marlene Dietrich | Born in Berlin, Dietrich came to Hollywood after her success as Lola Lola in The Blue Angel (1930).
- Hedy Lamarr | Austrian-born actress known as a popular screen glamour girl in the 1930s and 1940s.
- Fritz Lang - Austrian-born director (Metropolis, M, Fury, The Big Heat)
- Peter Lorre | Austrian-born actor (M, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and Mr. Moto)
- Leni Riefenstahl | She was Hitler’s favorite film director - and she had a big impact on Hollywood and world cinema.
- Billy Wilder | Austrian-American film director and producer
- Hans Zimmer | Film music composer from Germany
- Full Index and many more people coming up...
- More Famous Film People and others from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
Berlin’s Boulevard der Stars
Marlene Dietrich gets another star
The German-American actress got her first star — on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame — in 1960. In ceremonies on Feb. 12, 2012 she got her second star, this time on Berlin’s new Boulevard of Stars. The brass star was unveiled as the first of 40 that will be part of the Berlin walk when it is completed in late summer 2010. More...
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Related Pages
- German Cinema - From the German Way book
- Famous Germans, Austrians and Swiss
- Famous Graves - The graves and cemeteries of the famous
