Walter Slezak Overview:

Character actor, Walter Slezak, was born on May 3, 1902 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. Slezak died at the age of 81 on Apr 21, 1983 in Flower Hill, NY .

MINI BIO:

Tubby, mustachioed Walter Slezak was an Austrian actor just as likely to play affable or menacing characters. A welcome part of any film, he was probably most memorable as the German on Hitchcock's Lifeboat. He had two bursts of intense film activity, in Germany from 1924 to 1928 and in Hollywood from 1942 to 1954, having been in America since the early 1930s. Otherwise he appeared mostly on stage. He was also a writer and humorist. He retired in 1972, but in 1983 committed suicide by shooting himself.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Illustrated Dictionary of Film Character Actors).

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Walter Slezak Quotes:

Robert L. Talbot: [looking at his villa] Isn't that a new color?
Maurice Clavell: I beg your pardon?
Robert L. Talbot: I said, isn't that a new color?
Maurice Clavell: [chuckles] Houses are like women; The older they get, the more paint they need.


Mario Du Billar: I know the man. He'll not rest until he frees the Contessa and Anne Bonney, or is killed in the attempt.
Don Juan Alvarado: The latter alternative is the more likely. And, incidentally, the more satisfactory.


Teresa: What do you think you're doing?
Flaco: Collecting food for the poor.
Teresa: What poor?
Flaco: Ourselves.


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Walter Slezak Facts
He was the son of Leo Slezak, operatic tenor (Aug. 18, 1873 - June 1, 1946), later a comedian in Austrian films. Leo Slezak was a famous Lohengrin, and is credited with this story: during one production of the opera "Lohengrin," when the mechanical swan that was to carry the hero across the lake malfunctioned and "floated" off too soon, he was heard to say, "What time is the next swan?". This quote became the title of Walter Slezak's autobiography.

Won Broadway's 1955 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "Fanny."

Although thin and healthy when he began his film career in the 1920s, by the 1930s, he had gained much weight. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the backyard of his home in Flower Hill, New York, apparently in despair over several illnesses he was dealing with by then.

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