Gebühr, Otto

(1877-1954)

   Actor. Gebühr enjoyed a career that spanned more than half a century, working almost until the day he died. He remains best remembered for his portrayals of King Friedrich II (Frederick the Great of Prussia) in a series of films. Along with his film work, Gebühr worked steadily in the theater of the Wilhelmine, Weimar, and National Socialist periods, beginning in 1898 at the Dresden Court Theater. He worked for two years (1907-1909) in New York under Heinrich Conried at the Irving Place Theater, returning to Berlin in 1909 to work for Otto Brahm at the Lessing Theater. Gebühr appeared in scores of theater productions during the Weimar Republic and the National Socialist period. The Nazis named him a Staatsschauspieler (state actor) in 1937 for his body of work, most notably in such comic roles as Wibbel in Schneider Wibbel (Wibbel the Tailor), the theater director Striese in Der Raub der Sabinerinnen (The Rape of the Sabine Women), and Dr. Jura in Das Konzert (The Concert). His Frederick the Great series began with Fridericus Rex (1922), in which he played Frederick as Prussia's tormented crown prince. That film led to a series of Frider-icus films, with the Potsdam palace Sans Souci as a backdrop, including Die Mühle von Sans Souci (The Mill at Sans Souci, 1928); Der alte Fritz (Old Fritz, 1928); Das Flötenkonzert von Sans Souci (The Flute Concert at Sans Souci, 1930); Die Tänzerin von Sans Souci (The Dancer from Sans Souci,1932); Der Choral von Leuthen (The Chorale at Leuthen, 1933); Fridericus (1936); and Der grosse König (The Great King, 1942).