German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 184/1. Photo: Ufa.
Willy Fritsch in
Saison in Kairo/Cairo Season (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933).
From the mid-1920s on, charming
Willy Fritsch (1901-1973) replaced Bruno Kastner and Harry Liedtke as the darling of female cinemagoers in Germany. Fritsch became the immensely popular ‘Sunny Boy’ of the Ufa operettas of the 1930s and 1940s, and with his frequent co-star Lilian Harvey he formed the 'dream team of the German cinema'.
Willy (sometimes credited as Willi) Fritsch was born Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch in Kattowitz in German Silesia (now Katowice, Poland) in 1901. He was the son of Lothar Fritsch, a farmer and machine manufacturer, and his wife Anni (née Bauckmann). In 1912 he moved with his family to Berlin, where he planned to become a mechanic. In 1919 he took up acting lessons from the actor Gustav Sczimek. Fritsch debuted with a small role at Max Reinhardt's famous Deutsches Theater. There and at the affiliated Kammerspiele (Chamber theatre) he was cast in smaller stage roles and played young lovers and comic parts. In 1922, he joined the Max Reinhardt Ensemble on its tour through Scandinavia. From 1921 on, Fritsch began to appear as a supporting player in films, like the sound experiment Miss Venus (Ludwig Czerny, 1921). In 1923, he auditioned for the leading role of a blind artist in the melodrama Seine Frau, die Unbekannte/His Mysterious Adventure (Benjamin Christensen, 1923), which was then re-written to fit his rather sunny nature.
Willy Fritsch convincingly played the would-be son of an aristocrat in Der Farmer aus Texas/The Farmer from Texas (Joe May, 1925), which made him the new star of the production company Ufa. Next, he starred as the dashing Lieutenant Niki in Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925), which turned out to be a significant success in the USA. At AllMovie, Janiss Garza writes: "This UFA silent, based on an old operetta, is far more light-hearted and spirited than the moody, heavy-handed fare that generally came out of Germany." Ufa intervened when United Artists offered Fritsch a contract. His next films, Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) and Der letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Arthur Robison, 1927) followed the formula of Ein Walzertraum. Fritsch only occasionally altered his now well-established film image in Spione/Spies (1928) and Frau im Mond/Woman in the Moon (1929), directed by Fritz Lang. Hal Erickson notes at AllMovie: "Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German 'thriller' director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. Mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another."
Willy Fritsch took singing lessons to prepare himself for the sound film Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929) with Dita Parlo. His breakthrough came after being paired with Lilian Harvey in Liebeswalzer/The Love Waltz (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930) and the two were also engaged privately. Liebeswalzer established Harvey and Fritsch as the popular 'dream team of the German cinema'. Their next films such as Hokuspokus/Hocuspokus (Gustav Ucicky, 1930), the historical romance Der Kongress tanzt/Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931), Ein blonder Traum/A Blonde's Dream (Paul Martin, 1932) - co-written by Billy Wilder, and especially Die Drei von der Tankstelle/Three Good Friends (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930), were huge international box-office hits. Fritsch and Harvey appeared together in twelve films. Each of these films featured several songs, which became popular hits and were also released on records, further adding to the popularity of the two stars. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "If a poll had ever been conducted amongst fans of international musical-comedy star Lillian Harvey, the actress's most popular vehicle would probably have been Die Drei von Der Tankstelle (Three From the Gas Station) - with Congress Dances running a very close second. The story opens as three debt-ridden young men pool what is left of their savings to open a roadside service station. Their most frequent customer is the wealthy, winsome Ms. Harvey, who frequently shows up fetchingly clad in hiking shorts. Each young man falls in love with the girl, unbeknownst to the other two. Which one will she choose? Most likely, the one who sings the best - and that would be Lillian Harvey's frequent screen vis-a-vis Willy Fritsch."
Willy Fritsch had a long-term contract with Ufa and was paid a monthly salary of 20,000 Reichsmark per month, which was doubled during the 1930s. Eschewing his trademark sunny boy persona, Fritsch proved his range as a character actor in films like Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht/I by Day, You by Night (Ludwig Berger, 1932) co-starring Käthe von Nagy, Walzerkrieg/The Battle of the Walzes (Ludwig Berger, 1933) opposite Renate Müller, and the satirical romp Amphitryon/Amphitryon - Happiness from the Clouds (Reinhold Schünzel, 1935) with Paul Kemp. Fritsch managed to survive the Hitler era without any loss of prestige. After the end of the war, he relocated to Hamburg. He spoofed his image as the romantic lover in Film ohne Titel/Film Without a Title (Rudolf Jugert, 1947), and excelled as the comical conférencier in Herrliche Zeiten/Fun Times (Erik Ode, Günter Neumann, 1949). Although still in high demand, Fritsch didn't find satisfying roles in West Germany's post-war cinema. He continued to appear on stage and in films until the early 1960s. He remained a popular figure, partly due to his work as the host of nostalgic radio shows. Since 1937, he was married to dancer and actress Dinah Grace until she died in 1963. They had two sons, Michael and Thomas. After his wife's death, he decided to retire. With his son Thomas Fritsch he starred in his final film, Das hab ich von Papa gelernt/I Learned It from Daddy (Axel von Ambesser, 1964). In 1963 he published his memoir … das kommt nicht wieder/That will never come back, and in 1965 he was honoured with the Filmband in Gold, for his long and important work for the German film. Willy Fritsch died of heart failure in 1973 in Hamburg, Germany. He was 72.
Sources: Filmportal.de, Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), IMDb and Wikipedia.
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