Foto: Willy Pragher Lizenz CC BY 3.0
Rechteinhaber Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg

1884 - 1962

During World War I he served as a soldier  at the East front and in France. When he was wounded he was released from the duty and he made his entrance with cabaret numbers for different barracks and military hospitals. 

His first appearance in a movie was in 1913 for the picture "Die blaue Maus". He also acted in some other silent movies like "Der Reigen" (20), "Ein Erpressertrick" (21), "Sie und die Drei" (22) and "Die Frau ohne Namen" (27).
Willi Schaeffers realised his only work as a director in 1921 called "Cocain" (21).

With the transition to the sound film and with the very successful genre of musicals he got a lot of roles in the 30's. He normally didn't get leading roles but he was able to charm the audience with his support roles and gave the movies his personal note. To his well-known movies of the 30's belong "Peter Voss, der Millionendieb" (32), "Kiki" (32), "Der kühne Schwimmer" (34), " Ich heirate meine Frau" (34), "Prinzessin Turandot" (34), "Alles weg'n dem Hund" (35), "Im weissen Rössl" (35), "Das Schloss in Flandern" (36) and "Narren im Schnee" (38). Beside these feature movies he also appeared in many short movies. 

With the outbreak of World War II Willi Schaeffers disappeared completely from the screen, only in 1949 he had his comeback with "Anonyme Briefe" (49). In the 50's he had some entrances in movies like "Schlagerparade" (53), "Das Glück liegt auf der Strasse" (57) and "Die grosse Chance" (57). 
 

Other movies with Willi Schaeffers:
Die Nacht des Grauens (19) Der Fakir der Liebe (20) Küsse, die man nicht vergisst (28) Ein Tag Film (28) Und Nelson spielt (29) Gestörtes Ständchen (29) Töne, die nie verklingen (30) Gassenhauer (31) Gutgehendes Geschäft zu verkaufen (33) Der schwarze Walfisch (34) Was bin ich ohne Dich (34) Schachmatt (34) Spiel mit dem Feuer (34) Da stimmt was nicht (34) Jede Frau hat ein Geheimnis (34) Ich tanke, Herr Franke (34) Mucki (34) Ein Kind, ein Hund, ein Vagabund/Vielleicht war's nur ein Traum (34) Fräulein Liselott (34) Alle Tage ist kein Sonntag (35) Die Nachtwache (35) Der mutige Seefahrer (35) Wenn die Musik nicht wär'/Das Lied der Liebe (35) Die lustigen Weiber (35) Familienparade (36) Der Streithammel (36) Der verkannte Lebemann (36) Männer vor der Ehe (36) Patentkunstschloss (36) Womit schnurrt die Katze (36) Menschen ohne Vaterland (37) Jürgens riecht Lunte (37) Brillanten (37) Der Lachdoktor (37) Das Geheimnis um Betty Bonn (37) Monika (37) Das Ehesanatorium (38) Müller contra Müller (38) Rote Orchideen (38) Träume sind Schäume (38) Es leuchten die Sterne (38) Ein schwieriger Fall (39) Diese Nacht vergess' ich nie (49) Damenwahl (53) Rote Rosen, rote Lippen, roter Wein (53) Aus Kindern werden Leute (54)