Emil Jannings Biography

Fast Facts

• Won a Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor for "Der Herrscher" in 1937
• Became the first person ever to be presented with an Oscar when he won the Best Actor Award for "The Way of All Flesh" and "The Last Command" in 1929
• Made his film debut in 1914 and first found success as Louis XV in "Madame Dubarry" in 1919
• Spent his early career traveling with a stock company before joining up with theatrical director Max Reinhardt in 1906
• Became a highly controversial figure during his later career, when he began making Nazi propaganda films and was even named "Artist of the State" by Joseph Goebbels in 1941
• His career in American film ended with the advent of talking films, since his thick German accent made it impossible for him to work
• Best known for his role as Professor Immanuel Rath in "The Blue Angel" and as Mephistopheles in 1926's "Faust․"