Homolka, Oscar

▪ Austrian actor

born Aug. 12, 1898, Vienna

died Jan. 27, 1978, Sussex, Eng.

      Austrian-born U.S. character actor of stage and screen, known for his memorable portrayals of spies and villains.

      After two years of military service in World War I, Homolka made his stage debut in Vienna, playing a small part in The Little Man (1918). In 1924 he established himself as a major actor in the German production of The Emperor Jones and for 10 years thereafter worked in Vienna and Berlin with the Austrian producer-director Max Reinhardt as a leading man. His German-language films began in 1926 with Die Abenteuer eines Zehnmarkscheines (Uneasy Money); perhaps his most famous film was Dreyfus (1930). In 1932 he produced, directed, and played Professor Higgins in the Berlin production of Pygmalion. Not long after, when Hitler came to power, Homolka left Germany. He went first to Paris and then to England, where he made his London debut in Close Quarters with Dame Flora Robson (1935).

      It was during the mid-1930s that Homolka began what was to be a long and fruitful career in English-language films, appearing first with Walter Huston in Rhodes of Africa (1936). He then went to the United States and made his first Hollywood film, Ebb Tide (1937). Among the many others that followed were: Seven Sinners (1940; with Marlene Dietrich), Mission to Moscow (1943), Anna Lucasta (1949), The Seven Year Itch (1955), War and Peace (1956), A Farewell to Arms (1957), Mr. Sardonicus (1961), The Long Ships (1964), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), Song of Norway (1970), and The Tamarind Seed (1974).

      Homolka made his Broadway debut in Grey Farm (1940). His most acclaimed stage performance was undoubtedly as the blustering Uncle Chris in I Remember Mama (1944), a role he repeated in George Stevens' film version (1948). He continued his theatrical career in notable productions of The Broken Jug (1950), Le Diable et le bon Dieu (1951), The Master Builder (1955), and Rashomon (1959). Homolka also appeared on numerous television shows.

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