Classically-trained actor, former chemist, whose formative years on the
stage were spent in Bern (Switzerland) and, from 1909, the Deutsches
Theater Berlin under
Max Reinhardt's direction.
Specialised in Shakespearean roles
('Richard III', 'Hamlet') and was a famous
interpreter of the plays of
Henrik Ibsen.
He delivered his screen debut in a silent version of 'Dr.Jekyll and
Mr.Hyde' (
Der Andere (1913)).
Bassermann remained active in motion pictures throughout the
1920's,
also frequently appearing on stage in Austria and Switzerland. His
wife,
Elsa Bassermann,
nee Schiff, was Jewish, and the discrimination shown towards her in his
native country so outraged him that he emigrated with her to the United
States in 1939.
At the age of 72, he carved out another career in Hollywood as a
celebrated character actor. It took him some time to come to terms with
the English language, but he was soon cast in a small part in
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940),
as Dr.Robert Koch. He also played a sympathetic chemistry professor in
Knute Rockne All American (1940).
That same year, he appeared as Van Meer in
Alfred Hitchcock's
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
and was promptly nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting
Actor. His distinguished-looking countenance and serious demeanour lent
itself to being assigned a variety of consular or professorial roles:
he was excellent as Consul Magnus Barring in
A Woman's Face (1941) with
Joan Crawford; Professor Jean
Perote in
Madame Curie (1943); and a
dying German music teacher in
Rhapsody in Blue (1945).
At the age of 83, he made a triumphant return to the German/Austrian
stage in Ibsen plays. Albert Bassermann died of a heart attack en route
from New York to Zurich on May 15 1952.
The Red Shoes(1948)as Sergei Ratov
Escape Me Never(1947)as Professor Heinrich
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami(1947)as Jacques Rival
The Searching Wind(1946)as Count von Stammer
Rhapsody in Blue(1945)as Prof. Franck
