Coming from Europe, where he was an in-demand, feted, top-billing actor, into American exile, where he was cast in small parts with extensive downtime in between, actor Albert Bassermann was extremely dissatisfied with the work schedule which followed his 1939 emigration. The 72-year-old repeatedly aired his grievances to the staff of Kohner, his agency located on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. However he had continual bookings, and he mostly played amiable older gentlemen – unlike such colleagues as Conrad Veidt, Alexander Granach and Fritz Kortner, Bessermann was never forced to play a Nazi. And he even managed to cause a stir with his brief yet compelling appearances. Bassermann, who barely spoke English, was even nominated for the “Best Supporting Actor” Oscar for his role as kidnapped Dutch politician Van Meer in Alfred Hitchcock’s propaganda thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940). His lines had been written out for him phonetically and he learnt them by heart.

This still shows Van Meer, the wise, old statesman and bearer of secrets, seconds before his abduction. Shortly after a shot rings out from the crowd, Van Meer falls down the steps and in the ensuing confusion he is bundled into a car by supposed helpers and driven away.