Rudolf Klein-Rogge
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Rudolf Klein-Rogge (1885-1955) was a German stage and silent film actor of the 1920s and 30s, best known for his role as the mad scientist Rotwang in Fritz Lang's film Metropolis and the title character in Lang's Dr. Mabuse series.
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[edit] Biography
He was born as Friederich Rudolf Klein-Rogg in Cologne, Germany on November 24, 1885. His father was a high-ranking military officer. After graduating high school, he studied art history and literature at the universities of Berlin and Bonn whilst taking acting lessons. He made his stage debut in 1909, playing the role of Cassius in Julius Caesar at age 20, and from 1918 to 1924 he performed at the Berlin Lessing Theatre. While working in Aachen he met screenwriter and author Thea von Harbou and married her from 1914 until divorce in 1921 where she then married Fritz Lang.
He began film acting in 1919, starting with bit parts. His first lead film role was in Fritz Lang's Kampfende Herzen (1920), and collaborated with Lang in three of the director's most well-known films, Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922), Metropolis (1927) and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). After 1933 he was hired more often for bit roles. He appeared in over films, his last being in 1942.
He died in Graz, Austria in 1955.
[edit] Trivia
- Klein-Rogge married four times: Greta Melchor; Thea von Harbou; Margarete Neff; and Mary Johnson from 1932 until his death in 1955.
[edit] Filmography (incomplete)
Kampfende Herzen (1920)
Der Mude Tod (1921)
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922)
Die Nibelungen (1924)
Metropolis (1927)
Spione (1928)
Das Testament Des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse)(1933)
