Erwin Paul Biswanger (26 November 1896 in Berlin – 28 October 1944 in Berlin) was a German actor and screenwriter most famous for his role as Georgy in Metropolis (1927).
Life and work Little is known about Biswanger's life and career. The son of the saddler and upholsterer Carl Biswanger and his wife Marie, née Wilke,Landesarchiv Berlin, Geburtsregister Standesamt Berlin X a, Nr. 2177/1896 (online auf Ancestry.com, he was born in Berlin where he was in education until 1918 and, according to his own statement, was a student at the beginning of the Weimar Republic. Despite his claim to have served in World War I, he was brought into films by Richard Eichberg in 1918. Biswanger also appeared on stage after his engagement at the Berlin Lessing Theater (1920/21 season). Until 1926, the blonde actor with the distinctive middle parting appeared in front of the camera in a series of mostly less important productions, only his Giselher in Fritz Lang's legendary Nibelungen filmsErwin Biswanger in Nibelungen, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia and his worker number 11811, Georgy, in MetropolisGustav Frohlich and Erwin Biswanger in Metropolis (1927), Academy Film Archive, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the same director stand out.
In 1926 his film career came to an abrupt end, and although he was still listed in the stage yearbooks until the 1930s, Biswanger was no longer permanently engaged at a theatre. Instead, he devoted himself to writing screenplays around the early phase of World War II. In the early 1940s in particular, he collaborated several times with other authors such as the Austrian Alexander Lix. Later, he worked on Harry Piel’s film Panik. He died in 1944 in the sanatorium and care facility in Berlin-Buch.State Archives Berlin, Death Register, Berlin-Buch Registry Office, No. 2826/1944 (online on Ancestry.com)
Filmography (selection) As an actor 1918: Der Narr hat sie geküßt 1919: MorphiumErwin Biswanger, The German Early Cinema Database 1919: Die Hoffnung auf Segen 1920: Dieb und Weib 1920: Uriel Acosta 1920: Wildes Blut 1921: Der Mann ohne Nerven 1921: Unter Räubern und Bestien 1923: ErdgeistFilmography of Erwin Biswanger, Det Danske Filminstitut (Danish Film Institute) 1923: Der Menschenfeind 1924: Die Nibelungen, Part 1 1924: Die Nibelungen, Part 2 1924: Die Fahrt ins Verderben 1926: Eternal Allegiance 1927: Metropolis
As screenwriter 1939: In letzter Minute 1940: Tip auf Amalia 1943: Die große Nummer 1940–43/53: Panik
Bibliography Hans Richter (Hrsg.): Filmstern. Richters Handbuch der Schauspieler, Regisseure und Schriftsteller des Films (= Kinojahrbuch. Band 4). Hans Hermann Richter Verlag, Berlin-Wilmersdorf 1921/1922, , S. 13.
References
External links Erwin Biswanger on Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Erwin Biswanger at Filmportal de.