History Creator / ConradVeidt

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BastardBoyfriend: In ''Film/AWomansFace'' and ''Escape'', his characters' cruelty towards his girlfriends was eroticised through him manipulating and squeezing their hands, wrists and arms, at which the women would usually quiver, unable to resist him despite loathing him. Incidentally, George Cukor directed both (he was uncredited for ''Escape'', but stepped in for some of Veidt's scenes).

Also, he was a certifiable badass in real life and spent his entire adult life campaigning for various human rights causes. In 1919, he starred in ''Film/DifferentFromTheOthers'', the world's very first LGBT rights film. (Veidt himself was likely bisexual.) He had a high opinion of women and also starred in an early pro-choice film. In the Thirties, he made two films sympathetic to the plight of the Jews, which earned him personal hate mail from Hitler himself and sugary phone calls from Goebbels, who tried to persuade him into making propaganda films for the Nazis instead. In 1934, in order to stop him from making one of the films, the Nazis imprisoned him and tortured him with abuse and sleep deprivation, but he wouldn't budge. He escaped into England with his Jewish wife and continued to make films there. After war broke out, he donated his entire fortune to the Allied war effort and spent thousands of pounds helping out war children during the Blitz. In 1940, he left for Hollywood again and in a twist of irony, got repeatedly cast as Nazis. However, he accepted the parts exactly because he felt they were good propaganda against the Nazis, and sometimes donated his entire salary from the films to the British government. He personally helped several other European actors, including his ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' co-star Paul Henreid escape to the UK and the US by pulling strings and supporting them financially. Fans of ''Casablanca'' will note that this is the exact opposite of that movie's plot.

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German-British actor and {{Trope Maker|s}} extraordinaire. Even if you don't recognize his name, it's very likely [[WeirdAlEffect you've encountered someone]] based on [[FountainOfExpies one of his characters]].

* NoBisexuals: There are several accounts (from over three decades) of Veidt having had affairs with both women and men, and those who knew him described him as "heterosexual when sober, homosexual when drunk." Good luck finding a straight film historian who will acknowledge this! Even some LGBT film historians simply assume he was gay and closeted as opposed to bisexual.

!!Tropes

In 1919, he rose to fame playing Cesare--yes, [[LooksLikeCesare that Cesare]], the somnambulist in ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''. He followed this with a successful career playing tortured and demonic characters in the silents and later, with the advent of talkies, romantic heroes, sinister playboys and Nazi officers (despite being a staunch anti-Nazi in real life). In addition to the aforementioned Cesare, he inspired the appearance of ComicBook/TheJoker (based on his mutilated SlasherSmile in ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs''), epitomized the stereotypical NaziNobleman, and played the very first UsefulNotes/GrandVizierJafar on whom most subsequent evil Arabian Nights wizards were based.

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German-British actor and {{Trope Maker|s}} extraordinaire. You might not know his name, but it's very likely [[WeirdAlEffect you've met someone]] based on [[FountainOfExpies one of his characters]].

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor and {{Trope Maker|s}} extraordinaire. You might not know his name, but it's very likely [[WeirdAlEffect you've met someone]] based on [[FountainOfExpies one of his characters]].

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor and {{Trope Maker|s}} extraordinaire. You might not know his name, but it's very likely [[WeirdAlEffect you've met someone]] based on [[FountainOfExpies one of his characters]]. In 1919, he rose to fame playing Cesare--yes, [[LooksLikeCesare that Cesare]], the somnambulist in ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''. He followed this with a successful career playing tortured and demonic characters in the silents and later, with the advent of talkies, romantic heroes, sinister playboys and Nazi officers (despite being a staunch anti-Nazi in real life). In addition to the aforementioned Cesare, he inspired the appearance of ComicBook/TheJoker (based on his mutilated SlasherSmile in ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs''), epitomized the stereotypical NaziNobleman, and played the very first UsefulNotes/GrandVizierJafar on whom most subsequent evil Arabian Nights wizards were based.

Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German actor and {{Trope Maker|s}} extraordinaire. You might not know his name, but it's very likely [[WeirdAlEffect you've met someone]] based on [[FountainOfExpies one of his characters]]. In 1919, he rose to fame playing Cesare--yes, [[LooksLikeCesare that Cesare]], the somnambulist in ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''. He followed this with a successful career playing tortured and demonic characters in the silents and later, with the advent of talkies, romantic heroes, sinister playboys and Nazi officers (despite being a staunch anti-Nazi in real life). In addition to the aforementioned Cesare, he inspired the appearance of ComicBook/TheJoker (based on his mutilated SlasherSmile in ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs''), the stereotypical NaziNobleman, and played the very first UsefulNotes/GrandVizierJafar on whom most subsequent evil Arabian Nights wizards were based.

Also, he was a certifiable badass in real life and spent his entire adult life campaigning for various human rights causes. In 1919, he starred in ''Film/DifferentFromTheOthers'', the world's very first LGBT rights film. He had a high opinion of women and also starred in an early pro-choice film. In the Thirties, he made two films sympathetic to the plight of the Jews, which earned him personal hate mail from Hitler himself and sugary phone calls from Goebbels, who tried to persuade him into making propaganda films for the Nazis instead. In 1934, in order to stop him from making one of the films, the Nazis imprisoned him and tortured him with abuse and sleep deprivation, but he wouldn't budge. He escaped into England with his Jewish wife and continued to make films there. After war broke out, he donated his entire fortune to the Allied war effort and spent thousands of pounds helping out war children during the Blitz. In 1940, he left for Hollywood again and in a twist of irony, got repeatedly cast as Nazis. However, he accepted the parts exactly because he felt they were good propaganda against the Nazis, and sometimes donated his entire salary from the films to the British government. He personally helped several other European actors, including his ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' co-star Paul Henreid escape to the UK and the US by pulling strings and supporting them financially. Fans of ''Casablanca'' will note that this is the exact opposite of that movie's plot.

* {{Goth}}: The granddaddy of all tortured gothbois. His silent film performances made him one of the greatest icons of the goth subculture. If you meet someone who knows who Conrad Veidt is, it's pretty likely they're a bit of a goth.

Also, he was a certifiable badass in real life and spent his entire adult life campaigning for various human rights causes. In 1919, he starred in ''Film/DifferentFromTheOthers'', the world's very first LGBT rights film. He had a high opinion of women and also starred in an early pro-choice film. In the Thirties, he made two films sympathetic to the plight of the Jews, which earned him personal hate mail from Hitler himself and sugary phone calls from Goebbels, who tried to persuade him into making propaganda films for the Nazis instead. In 1934, in order to stop him from making one of the films, the Nazis imprisoned him and tortured him with abuse and sleep deprivation, but he wouldn't budge. He escaped into England with his Jewish wife and continued to make films there. After war broke out, he donated his entire fortune to the Allied war effort and spent thousands of pounds helping out war children during the Blitz. In 1940, he left for Hollywood again and in a twist of irony, got repeatedly cast as Nazis. However, he accepted the parts exactly because he felt they were good propaganda against the Nazis, and sometimes donated his entire salary from the films to the British government. He personally helped several other European actors, including his ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' co-star Paul Henreid escape to the UK and the US by pulling strings and supporting them financially.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Having often been cast as smouldering villains, Veidt received mountains of fan mail from female admirers.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naUKPER8yM bondage scene]] in ''Contraband''. [[http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/339774/Woman-s-Face-A-Movie-Clip-A-Most-Generous-Gesture.html Torsten ogling two women dancing with each other]] in ''Film/AWomansFace''.

* CreepyLongFingers: Famous for them.

* {{Doppelganger}}: Specialised in this. He played a pair of good/evil twin brothers in ''Die Brüder Schellenberg'' (Two Brothers) in 1926 and again in ''Nazi Agent'' in 1942. He was hounded by his own mirror image in ''The Student of Prague'' (1926) and also briefly doubled up for ''Carlos and Elisabeth'' and ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs'', playing his characters' fathers.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: One of the first.

* {{Gayngst}}: The cinematic UrExample in ''Different From The Others'', where Veidt plays the first explicitly-referred-to-as-homosexual (and the first sympathetic homosexual) character in movie history. Paul Körner is a musician who gets blackmailed for his homosexuality, convicted for it at court and [[spoiler: ends up committing suicide.]]

* HappilyMarried: With his third wife, Ilona Prager, who would be with him til his death in 1943. Veidt was ''not'' a Jew, but he deliberately listed his race as Jewish on census cards because he refused to renounce the woman he loved. In ''Nazi Germany.''

* Franchise/UniversalHorror: Starred in ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs'' and ''The Last Performance'', Universal's last silent horrors.

* EvilHand: Veidt starred in ''The Hands of Orlac'', one of the first examples of the trope, in 1924. A pianist gets the hands of a murderer grafted onto him after he loses his own in an accident.

* HappilyMarried: With his third wife, Ilona Prager, who would be with him til his death in 1943. Veidt was ''not'' a Jew, but he deliberately listed his race on census cards because he refused to renounce the woman he loved. In ''Nazi Germany.''

* KubrickStare: Vigorously, and often. Immortalised in [[https://cinenthusiast.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/conrad-veidt.jpg this portrait]] from 1929.

** ''VINND!''

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[https://vimeo.com/120473034 Torsten in the attic in ''Film/AWomansFace'']] is particularly chilling and memorable. (Veidt himself considered it his best performance.)

* BastardBoyfriend: In ''A Woman's Face'' and ''Escape'', his characters' cruelty towards his girlfriends was eroticised through him manipulating and squeezing their hands, wrists and arms, at which the women would usually quiver, unable to resist him despite loathing him. Incidentally, George Cukor directed both (he was uncredited for ''Escape'', but stepped in for some of Veidt's scenes).

* DidNotGetTheGirl: ''Especially'' when he was playing dashing heroes or otherwise honourable men. Usually this was done to prove how noble or how tragic his character was (''Carlos and Elisabeth'', ''Film/TheSpyInBlack'', ''Der Mann der den Mord Beging''). He actually had more of a chance of at least bedding the ladies when he played villains or otherwise morally ambivalent characters (''A Woman's Face'', ''I Was a Spy''), even if they usually escaped his clutches by the end.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0naUKPER8yM bondage scene]] in ''Contraband''. [[http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/339774/Woman-s-Face-A-Movie-Clip-A-Most-Generous-Gesture.html Torsten ogling two women dancing with each other]] in ''A Woman's Face''.

* OminousWalk: Veidt personally believed a character's walk was a key to deciphering his nature. He was particularly famous for his incredibly slow, catlike movements, used to great (and usually terrifying) effect in ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940'' and ''A Woman's Face''. (Incidentally, Creator/ChristopherLee says he based his {{Dracula}} glide on Veidt's way of moving.)

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[https://vimeo.com/120473034 Torsten in the attic in ''A Woman's Face'']] is particularly chilling and memorable. (Veidt himself considered it his best performance.)

* SexIsEvil: Oh, so many characters. Torsten Barring in ''A Woman's Face'' is probably the best example. He's evil, but he's also so good in bed you could kill for him. [[SarcasmMode Hot sex does that]] to a woman [[ValuesDissonance according to the 1940s.]]

* SharpDressedMan: On screen [[http://aikainkauna.tumblr.com/post/31667502528/you-know-how-many-film-and-television-stars-of and in real life]]. Often as the ManOfWealthAndTaste variation when it was one of his villains--he described Torsten Barring as "Lucifer in a tuxedo".

* NoBisexuals: There are several accounts (from over three decades) of Veidt having had affairs with both women and men. Those who knew him described him as "heterosexual when sober, homosexual when drunk."

* NoBisexuals: There are several accounts (from over three decades) of Veidt having had affairs with both women and men. Mostly, they [[BrokenBase either]] get violently dismissed by those who want to see him as a saint or then he gets claimed as completely gay by LGBT film historians with an axe to grind. Those who knew him described him as "heterosexual when sober, homosexual when drunk", or just as AnythingThatMoves.