Willy Birgel

Willy Birgel was born on September 19, 1891 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany as Wilhelm Maria Birgel.

After a theater performance in 1907 he was seized by the acting Virus and attended an acting school. He got his first theater engagement at the Stadttheater Bonn in 1913. His career was interrupted with his entry to the army during World War I. After the war he continued his theater career and became a star on the Mannheimer stage.

Was wounded while serving with a German artillery unit in Serbia during the first world war (1914-1918).

Tall, athletic, dark-eyed star of 1930's and 40's German Ufa films, the son of a goldsmith. His first major stage role was in 1910. On screen only from 1934, invariably in masculine or romantic roles, with a noted penchant for portraying straight-backed cavalry officers, cultured governors, aristocratic landowners, industrialists and charming bon vivants. His post-war career was harmed by having featured in several Nazi propaganda films. He was banned from acting in films until 1947. From 1959, he was a regular member of the ensemble of the Schauspielhaus Zurich.

Already over forty years old he was engaged by Paul Wegener for an easily remembered support role in the movie "Ein Mann will nach Deutschland" (1934). No one had counted on a huge career of Willy Birgel at this time but he became soon a public magnet and a darling of the women.

After World War II, Birgel was on the Allied black-list and did not make another film until 1947. By the 1950s, he was back to his pre-war popularity, often appearing with German film superstar Hans Albers.

He was an actor and director, known for Agent 505 - Todesfalle Beirut (1966), The Final Chord (1936) and Coffin from Hong Kong (1964). He was married to Charlotte Michael and Carola Cajetan.