Fritz Leiber
Birthday: 1882-01-29
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Synopsis
Fritz Reuter Leiber Sr. was an American actor. A Shakespearean actor on stage, he also had a successful career in film. He was the father of science fiction and fantasy writer Fritz Leiber Jr., who was also an actor for a time. Leiber and his wife spent much of their time touring in a Shakespearean acting company, known by the 1930s as Fritz Leiber & Co. Leiber made his film bow in 1916, playing Mercutio in the Francis X. Bushman version of “Romeo and Juliet.” With his piercing eyes and shock of white hair, Leiber seemed every inch the priests, professors, musical professors, and religious fanatics that he was frequently called upon to play in films. His many silent-era portrayals included Caesar in Theda Bara's 1917 “Cleopatra” and Solomon in the mammoth 1921 Betty Blythe vehicle “The Queen of Sheba.” He thrived as a character actor in sound films, usually in historical roles. In the film “Champagne Waltz” he portrayed an orchestra maestro; the role required him to play classical music on a violin and jazz on a clarinet. One of Leiber's larger assignments of the 1940s, and his most notable musical role, was as Franz Liszt in the Claude Rains' remake of “Phantom of the Opera” (1943). Leiber appears together with his son Fritz Leiber Jr. in the wedding-feast scene of Greta Garbo's film “Camille” (1936) and in Warner Bros.' “The Great Garrick” (1937). Leiber also appeared with his son Fritz Leiber Jr. in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939), but Fritz Leiber Jr. was not credited for his small speaking part. Late in his career, Leiber performed briefly opposite Charles Chaplin as the priest who visits Monsieur Verdoux in his prison cell.
Acting
Bagdad
as Emir
An Arab sheik's daughter (Maureen O'Hara) avenges his death, blamed on Hassan (Paul Christian) and his Black Riders.
Another Part of the Forest
as Col. Isham
This 'prequel' to The Little Foxes tells how the ruthless members of the old-South Hubbard family got that way.
Adventures of Casanova
as D'Anneci
Casanova, a young patriot in 18th-century Sicily, upon learning that his father and sister have been murdered, returns to Palermo and engages in guerilla tactics against the forces of the Governor. Lady Bianca, the Governor's daughter, is in love with one of the patriots, Lorenzo, and desires to escape from the palace. Her lady-in-waiting, Zanetta, enlists the aid of Casanova and he rescues them and takes them to the partisan's camp. The rebels are victorious. Lady Bianca makes plans to marry Lorenzo, and Casanova and Zanetta have similar plans.
Inner Sanctum
as Dr. Valonius
A killer hides out in a small-town boarding house.
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Dangerous Venture
as Chief Xeoli
Sue Morgan gets Hoppy and his friends to join their expedition looking for Indian artifacts. Expedition leader Atwood makes a deal with nearby cattle rustler Morgan to loot the Indian treasures instead and sell them. Hoppy is on to their plan and pretending to leave follows them. Not only is he outnumbered by Morgan's men, but California has himself about to be sacrificed in an Indian ritual.
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The Web
as Leopold Kroner
A brash young lawyer takes a short-term, high-paying job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.
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Bells of San Angelo
as Padre
Gridley is mining silver from an old Mexican mine and bringing it into the USA thru a passage into his worthless mine. Border guard Rogers suspects Gridley and finally finds the secret entrance to the Mexican mine. He sends Lee Madison for help only to have her captured by Gridley. Trigger brings help that takes care of Gridley's men and now Roy has to rescue Madison.
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The Spanish Main
as Bishop
Laurent van Horn is the leader of a band of Dutch refugees on a ship seeking freedom in the Carolinas, when the ship is wrecked on the coast of Cartagene, governed by Don Juan Alvardo, a Spanish ruler. Alvarado has Laurent thrown in prison, but the latter escapes, and five-years later is a pirate leader. He poses as the navigator on a ship in which Contessa Francesca, daughter of a Mexican noble, is traveling on her way to marry Alvarado, whom she has never seen. Laurent's pirates capture the ship and Francesca, in order to save another ship, gives her hand-in-marriage to Laurent, who sails her to the pirate hideout. This irks his jealous pirate comrades Anne Bonney and Captain Benjamin Black. They overpower Laurent and send Francesca to Alvarado, and then Mario du Billar, a trusted right-hand man, makes a deal to deliver Laurent to Alvarado.
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The Cisco Kid Returns
as The Padre
After several years' dormancy, the "Cisco Kid" western-film series returned to the screen with Monogram's The Cisco Kid Returns. Duncan Renaldo, actually Rumanian, starred as the Mexican "Robin Hood of the Old West", with Martin Garralaga as his corpulent sidekick Pancho. In the tradition of 20th Century-Fox's earlier "Cisco" efforts, our hero comes to the aid of an orphaned child, clears himself of a kidnapping charge, and proves that a "solid citizen" is in fact a criminal mastermind.
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Cry of the Werewolf
as Dr. Charles Morris (uncredited)
A young gypsy girl turns into a wolf to destroy her enemies.
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First Comes Courage
as Dr. Aanrud
Merle Oberon plays a Norwegian resistance figure in a small town, married to a Nazi commandant. When his superiors begin to suspect her, the Allies land an assassin to kill him -- an assassin who happens to be her former lover.
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Aloma of the South Seas
as High Priest
A young South Seas native boy is sent to the U.S. for his education and returns to his island after his father dies to try to stop a revolution.
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They Made Her a Spy
as Dr. Krull
When her brother is killed by sabotage, Irene Eaton (Sally Eilers) joins the secret service and goes undercover to unroot the culprits.
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Pack Up Your Troubles
as Pierre Ferrand
Three American soldiers help a young girl deliver a secret message across enemy lines.
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The Great Garrick
as Horatio in 'Hamlet'
A British actor insults a French acting group only to fall victim to a prank that might destroy his career.
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Under Southern Stars
as Stonewall Jackson
Set in the springtime of 1863 in Chancellorsville, Virginia during the War Between the States, this colorful short profiles the heroic Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson the night before he would meet his fate in battle.
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Hearts in Bondage
as Capt. John Ericsson
Best friends Kenneth Reynolds and Raymond Jordan are U.S. Navy officers, and Kenneth is engaged to Raymond's sister. But the eruption of the Civil War divides them, as Raymond stands by his native Virginia while Kenneth remains on duty as a Northern officer. Kenneth's uncle, John Ericsson, designs a new kind of ship, an ironclad he calls the Monitor. Eventually the war pits Kenneth, on board the Monitor, against his friend Raymond, serving aboard the South's own ironclad, the Merrimac (as it is called here). A naval battle ensues, one that will go down in history.
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The Story of Louis Pasteur
as Dr. Charbonnet
A true story about Louis Pasteur, who revolutionized medicine by proving that much disease is caused by microbes, that sanitation is paramount and that at least some diseases can be cured by vaccinations.
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A Tale of Two Cities
as Gaspard
The exciting story of Dr. Manette, who escapes the horrors of the infamous Bastille prison in Paris. The action switches between London and Paris on the eve of the revolution where we witness 'the best of times and the worst of times' - love, hope, the uncaring French Aristocrats and the terror of a revolutionary citizen's army intent on exacting revenge.
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Cleopatra
as Caesar
The story of Cleopatra, the fabulous queen of Egypt, and the epic romances between her and the greatest men of Rome, Julius Caesar and Antony.
