Joseph Schildkraut Biography

Fast Facts

• Honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry
• Passed away after suffering a heart attack at the age of 68, which was the same age his father was when he too died from a heart attack
• Followed in his father's footsteps, as he too was a Broadway performer
• After conquering the stage, he would eventually move on to film, both silent and non, before landing his most well-known character to date in 1959, that of Otto Frank, in "The Diary of Anne Frank"
• Upon graduating from Berlin's Royal Academy of Music, he made his American stage debut at 25 in "Liliom", the play that would eventually become as the basic influence Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" several decades later
• Often played Jewish Holocaust victims, much like that of the many relatives he lost during WWII
• Reportedly intended not to attend the ceremony for which he was nominated for an Oscar for his work in "The Life of Emile Zola", but after getting word that he may in fact win, he arrived at the venue just in time to accept the trophy from director Frank Capra