Wiemann, Mathias

(1902-1971)

   Actor. Wiemann is best known for his work with Max Reinhardt and Heinz Hilpert, but in the postwar period he became one of the German theater's best-known character actors. He made his debut in 1924 at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, and in that venue starred with Elisabeth Bergner and Rudolf Forster in Reinhardt's much-admired production of George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan. Also with Bergner, he starred in the 1929 German premiere of Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude. Wiemann appeared prominently in several other Reinhardt productions of the 1920s, including William Shakespeare's Othello, Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, Wolfgang Goetz's Gneisenau, and Gerhart Hauptmann's Michael Kramer. Wiemann also had a substantial film career, appearing most notably in Die ewige Maske (The Eternal Mask, 1935), a Swiss production that won international awards for its frank portrayal of mental illness. The National Film Board of Review in the United States named it "best foreign film of the year" and gave Wiemann its award for best actor. After World II Wiemann began playing leading roles in German classics, and in 1968 he played pawnbroker Gregory Salomon in the German premiere of Arthur Miller's The Price.