Conrad Veidt as Major Strasser in Casablanca (1942)
Conrad Veidt as Major Strasser in Casablanca (1942)
Verhaftet die üblichen Verdächtigen!
[Round up the usual suspects! (ed. trans.)]
Quote from Casablanca: Police chief Renault shouts to his colleagues after the murder of Major Strasser at the airport
The Ufa star Conrad Veidt, who had left Germany out of moral conviction, going first to the UK in 1940, then into exile in Hollywood, met the same fate as many of his fellow actors. As a committed anti-fascist he had to play the German villain in American anti-Nazi productions. It was argued that his background and accent gave his act the “authentic touch”. He already played an SS man in his first role in the US, in Mervyn LeRoy’s Escape (1940). He then played a Nazi again in All through the Night (1942).
In the classic film Casablanca (1942) he played Major Strasser “of the Third Reich”, who had come especially to Morocco to prevent the prominent underground fighter Victor László (played by Paul Henreid) from leaving. At the end of the film he is shot by Rick (Humphrey Bogart) at the airport.
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