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| Gustav
Fröhlich
1902 - 1987 |
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. The actor Gustav Heinrich Fröhlich grew up in the care of foster-parents. During the World War I he volunteered for a duty in the occupied Brussels as supervisioner of the press. His literary talent appeared in the publishing of two issues of a dime novel called "Heinz Brandt, der Fremdenlegionär". After some entrances at a vaudeville theater under the stage name Gustav Geef he took acting lessons in Heilbronn. In the next few years he appeared on different German stages. In 1922 he made his film debut with "Paganini" in the role of the composer Franz Liszt. It followed few more movies like "Schiff in Not" (25) before he was engaged by Fritz Lang for the movie "Metropolis" (26). At the beginning of "Metropolis" Fröhlich was only scheduled for the part of one of the workmen but four weeks after the beginning he was promoted to the leading actor by Fritz Lang when Thea von Harbou called her husband's attention to Fröhlich. With this role Gustav Fröhlich became a movie star and he impersonated numerous roles in the next years. To these productions belong "Der Meister von Nürnberg" (27), "Jugendrausch" (27), "Heimkehr" (28), "Das brennende Herz" (29) und "Asphalt" (29). In 1930 he was engaged by Warner Bros. and he went to Hollywood where he took part in several German versions of American movies like "Die heilige Flamme" (30) and "Kismet" (31). But his future lied in the German film. Because of his carefree attendance he soon was subscribed to play smart gentlemen. Seldom he could play other characters. In the 30s followed one movie after the oter and Gustav Fröhlich appeared in well-known productions like "Voruntersuchung" (31), "Unter falscher Flagge" (32), "Der Flüchtling aus Chicago" (34), "Oberwachtmeister Schwenke" (34), "Barcarole" (35), "Stradivari" (35), "Inkognito" (36), "Frau Sixta" (38) and "Alarm auf Station III" (39). During wartime he was able to continue his film career with "Herz modern möbliert" (40), "Der grosse König" (42), "Familie Buchholz" (43), "Neigungsehe" (43) and "Der grosse Fall" (45). Still he had to serve for the German Armed Forces. Gustav Fröhlich remained a busy actor after the war but his roles changed from leading roles to support roles. To his most popular movies of those years belong "Das verlorene Gesicht" (48), "Der Bagnosträfling" (49), the scandal movie"Die Sünderin" (50) with Hildegard Knef in a small nude scene, "Torreani" (51), "Die kleine Stadt will schlafen gehen" (53) and "Vergiss, wenn Du kannst" (56). Afterwards his film career came to an end, to his last roles in front of the camera belong "…und keiner schämte sich" (60), "Die Dubarry" (63), "Der lachende Apfel" (76) and the serial "Die Laurents" (82). Gustav Fröhlich was married with the actress Gitta Alpar von 1931 to 1935 and they had a daughter. Later he tried a reconciliation with Gitta Alpar but failed, a circumstance which gave him a tough time at the old-age. After his marriage with Gilla Alpar he lived together with the actress Lida Baarova. A rumor says that Gustav Fröhlich, when he lost Lida Baarova to propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, he slapped him during a quarrel. Gustav Fröhlich left in Brissago in Switzerland since 1956. He died at the age of 85. Other movies with Gustav Fröhlich:
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