Paul Henreid Movies
Some sources list actor Paul Henreid's birthplace as Italy. In fact, at the time of his birth, Henreid's hometown of Trieste was still part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Of aristocratic stock, Henreid felt drawn to theatrical activities while attending college. He briefly supported himself as a translator before Max Reinhardt's assistant Otto Preminger officially discovered him and launched his stage career. Still billed under his given name of Von Hernreid, he made his film debut in a 1933 Moroccan production. Relocating to England in 1935, he was often as not cast as Teutonic villains, most memorably in the 1940 melodrama Night Train.In 1940, Henreid became an American citizen--and, at last, a leading man. Henreid's inbred Continental sophistication struck a responsive chord with wartime audiences. He spent his finest years as an actor at Warner Bros., where he appeared as Jerry Durrance in Bette Davis' Now Voyager (1942), as too-good-to-be-true resistance leader Victor Lazslo in Casablanca (1942), and as troubled medical student Philip Carey in the 1946 remake of Of Human Bondage (1946). Henreid exhibited a great deal of vivacity in such swashbucklers as The Spanish Main (1945), Last of the Buccaneers (1950) and The Siren of Bagdad (1953); in the latter film, the actor engagingly spoofed his own screen image by repeating his lighting-two-cigarettes bit from Now Voyager with an ornate water pipe. He was also an effective villain in Hollow Triumph (1948, which he also produced) and Rope of Sand (1949).
Henreid's star faded in the 1950s, a fact he would later attribute (in his 1984 autobiography Ladies Man) to the Hollywood Blacklist. He turned to directing, helming such inexpensive but worthwhile dramas as For Men Only (a 1951 indictment of the college hazing process) and A Woman's Devotion (1954). One of his best directorial efforts was the 1964 meller Dead Ringer, starring his former Warners co-star (and longtime personal friend) Bette Davis. In addition, Henreid directed dozens of 30- and 60-minute installments of such TV series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Maverick. His last on-camera appearance was as "The Cardinal" in Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977).
Henreid married Elizabeth Gluck in 1936, with whom he had two daughters, Monica Henreid and Mimi Duncan. On March 29, 1992, he died of pneumonia, following a stroke, in Santa Monica, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Complete Filmography
- 1952
Brilliant plastic surgeon Philip Ritter (Paul Henreid) loses the love of his life, concert pianist Alice Brent (Lizabeth Scott), to her manager, David (Andre Morell). As a balm to his wounded pride, Dr. Ritter Henreid makes over a hideously scarred female criminal into the spitting image of the woman who jilted him (the girl is played by Mary McKenzie "before," and, of course, by Lizabeth Scott "after"). Alas, he cannot make over her personality as well, and soon she's run off with her own crooked crowd. A not-bad precursor to Hitchcock's Vertigo, A Stolen Face was produced by Britain's Hammer Films, and distributed in the U.S. by Lippert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Henreid, Lizabeth Scott, (more)
- 1956
Battle Shock and War Shock were the titles bestowed by British distributors upon the Paul Henreid-directed psychological drama A Woman's Devotion. Ralph Meeker stars as Trevor Stevenson, an emotionally scarred World War II veteran who has channelled his fears and phobias into his painting. At present, he is in Acapulco on his honeymoon with bride, Stella (Janice Rule). Shortly after Trevor's arrival, two women are murdered. The audience is presented with a "lady or the tiger" situation, with clues pointing to Trevor's guilt or innocence depending upon one's point-of-view. Henreid cagily avoids telling us the whole story -- continuing to withhold information right up to the grim finale. Trevor's behavior in the climactic scenes is an interesting precursor to the "crazed Vietnam vet" school of drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Meeker, Janice Rule, (more)
- 1957
Broadway musical star and celebrated concert singer Barbara Cook makes a rare TV appearance in this chilling episode. Bored with her boyfriend, party girl Barbie Hallem (Cook) decides to escape to her uncle's cabin in the woods. En route, Barbie is warned by café owner Ed Mungo (Robert Karnes) that Ed's brother Bennie (Vic Morrow), suspected of murdering his sweetheart, is still at large. Once at the cabin, Barbie is confronted by Bennie -- who tells her an entirely different story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Escaped killer Joe Philips (Joe Maross) is hiding in plain sight as a worker at a Mexican construction site. Later on, another man is hired to work alongside Joe: Bret Johnson (Wayne Morris), who turns out to be the detective hired to bring Joe to justice. Things don't quite work out as planned, thanks to a near-disaster at the site -- followed by a daring rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
DA Rudolph Cox (Leslie Nielsen) hopes to use the testimony of stoolie Lou Heinz (Bernard Kates) to put mobster Mac Davis (Harold J. Stone) away for keeps. Unfortunately, Heinz's cover is blown and he is marked for death. Even more unfortunately, the most important official in town seems to be in Davis' pocket -- which means that Cox's dreams of becoming a major political figure are in just as much danger as the hapless Heinz. This is the final episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents' sixth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Condemned for a murder he didn't commit, embittered death-row inmate Prof. Herbert Morrison (Brian Keith) has not only given up all hopes of a reprieve, but has informed his lawyer not to even bother getting him released. As his last hours tick away, Morrison is more annoyed than usual by the obnoxious ebullience of prison guard Pops Lafferty (James Westerfield). Figuring that he can only be put to death once, Morrison vows that his last act on Earth will be to shut Pops' mouth permanently! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Hoodlums Phil (Walter Matthau) and Davey (Glenn Cannon) stage a daring daylight robbery of a bank messenger, whom hotheaded Davey shoots and kills. It turns out that there was a witness to the murder, a young woman (Carol Grace) now in police custody. Scheming to knock off the witness before she can identify Davey, Phil disguises himself as a policeman and worms his way into the woman's confidence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Worrywart Norman Frayne (James Best) is so wrapped up with his own problems that he is neglecting his wife, Paula (Katherine Bard). All this changes when Norman's old pal, handsome Al Revenel (Steve Brodie), comes to town. Now Norman has something new to worry about -- namely, that Al is poised to steal Paula away from him. His solution to this dilemma is to move out of his own house...and that is the first of his many fatal errors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Released from prison, criminal Joe Kedzie (Steven Hill) makes a beeline to an abandoned mine shaft in the desert, where he has hidden 100,000 dollars in stolen money. Hot on Joe's heels are his two cohorts, Maxie (Steve Brodie) and Madge, (Jean Hagen), who hope to claim their share of the dough -- or to knock Joe off and keep it all. There's double-crossing aplenty amongst the unholy trio throughout the rest of the episode, with only one conspirator remaining alive at the end...albeit no luckier nor richer than before. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
This episode may well have been one of the inspirations for the darkly humorous 1994 theatrical feature The Ref. The constant quarrelling between Jordan and Eve Ross (Scott McKay, Joan Tetzel) is only briefly interrupted when a fugitive criminal named Chester Lacey (Richard Shepard) invades their home. As Lacey holds the couple hostage, their endless bickering begins to wear on his nerves. Ultimately, as a means to keep them quiet, Lacey tries to play marriage counselor for the Rosses -- an ironic turn of events, considering the reason that Lacey became a fugitive in the first place. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Charles Underhill (John McIntire) and his niece Anne (Suzanne Pleshette) offer a ride to Len (Robert Morse), the nice young man who helped Charles repair his stalled car. Shortly thereafter, Underhill learns that Len has spent several years in a reform school. Now in fear of his life, Underhill wonders how he can rid himself of the youthful hitchhiker -- but as it turns out, Len is the least of his worries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
The year is 1916; the place, a small English town. During the dedication ceremony for a new bridge, the townsfolk are shocked to see the body of a woman floating in the river. Well, technically speaking, not everyone is shocked. Henry Dow (Hume Cronyn), the mayor of the town, assumes that the body is that of an old acquaintance, Miss Wilkinson (Doris Lloyd). And Henry should know: he killed Miss Wilkinson himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
The death of accused bank robber Arnold Mathias (Ron Nichols) during a prison break has revived interest in the robbery which allegedly netted Mathias 500,000 dollars -- but which has never been officially solved. Shortly after Mathias' death, a man identifying himself as novelist Henry Taylor (Robert Bray) pays a visit to bank president William Spengler (Bob Sweeney), hoping to get the full story of the robbery. In the course of events, Spengler makes a startling revelation -- but nowhere near as startling as the one made by "Henry Taylor" in the final scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
A skeleton in a museum collection of Native American artifacts catches the eye of a man named Newton Clovis (Myron McCormick). Curator Clay Hollister (Larry Gates) insists that the skeleton is that of an Indian, but Newton suspects otherwise. In flashback, we learn that Newton is absolutely right, and that Hollister had once been on somewhat intimate terms with the skeleton's owner, thanks to a sensational murder case involving Hollister's late son, Ben (Bert Convy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Bette Davis guest stars in this episode, which was directed by her former Now, Voyager co-star Paul Henreid. Davis is cast as Miss Fox, a wealthy woman living in a luxury apartment. Taking a liking to elevator operator Eddie McMahon (James Congdon), Miss Fox hires him to walk her dog. Later on, Eddie approaches Miss Fox, asking for a generous loan. She refuses -- and shortly thereafter, she is brutally attacked on the street by an unseen assailant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Although storekeeper Mrs. Gruber (Jesslyn Fax) has purchased a gun for protection, she finds herself incapable of pulling the trigger when she is robbed by a teenager named Jimmy Philips (Bob Paget). Not so timorous is Mrs. Gruber's customer Gerald R. Clarke (George Nader), who grabs the gun, chases Jimmy down, and shoots the boy to death -- managing to avoid arrest himself by claiming "self-defense." This leads to a fateful confrontation between Gerald and the dead boy's mother (Audrey Totter). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
This episode marked the first of several Hitchcock contributions by future Columbo and Murder, She Wrote creators Richard Levinson and William Link. Steve Dunne plays a young man who suffers total amnesia after sustaining a blow to the head. Rummaging through his wallet, the man finds two possible clues to his true identity: a 1,000-dollar bill and a card bearing the name of Dr. Ralph Mannix (Hugh Marlowe). But when he catches up with Mannix, the doctor insists he has never met the man in his life -- though he makes a fateful suggestion as to how our hero can restore his memory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
While driving along a country road, Harry Adams (Richard Kiley) and his wife (Patricia Breslin) are pulled over for speeding. This begins a chain reaction of events which lead to the inescapable conclusion that the town in which the Adamses are stranded is chock-full of crooks and grafters, including a corrupt traffic cop (Walter Matthau), a dishonest judge (Charles Watts), and a duplicitous car repairman (Richard Erdman). Without giving away too much of the outcome, let it be noted that Harry loudly complains about every outrage, while his nervous wife never relaxes her grip on her outsized purse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
While on vacation in Mexico, a wealthy woman dies in the back seat of the car owned by her daughter Janet (Mary Scott) and son-in-law Evan (George Peppard). Reporting the woman's demise, the couple returns to find that the car has been stolen -- and with no corpse, they will be unable to claim Janet's inheritance. In desperation, Janet and Evan hire a sleazy private eye named Tomas Salgado (a role made to order for Peter Lorre), who agrees to locate the body and ship it back to Los Angeles...but only for a hefty price. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Ned Malley (Gene Evans) is devoted to his pet dog, a Kerry blue named Annie. Tired of playing second fiddle to Annie, Ned's long-suffering wife, Thelma (Carmen Mathews), makes no secret of her disdain for the dog. Thus, when Annie dies, Ned accuses Thelma of poisoning the pooch -- and intends to wreak vengeance for this "murder most foul." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Hotel waitress Thelma Tompkins (Olive Deering) is surprised to learn that wealthy Mrs. Mannerheim (Celia Lovsky) has named Thelma in her will. Relating this news to her lazy musician boyfriend, Arthur (Rick Jason), in hopes that he will propose to her, Thelma is disappointed when Arthur replies that marriage is out of the question until Mrs. Mannerheim dies. Giving this set of circumstances, Thelma and Arthur have no alternative than to "help" Mrs. Mannerheim shuffle off her mortal coil -- a scheme ultimately foiled by the usual ironic twist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
New in town, bank clerk Billy Weaver (Dean Stockwell) rents a room from a slightly daffy old woman (Patricia Collinge). After a few days, Billy begins to wonder why he never sees any of the lady's other tenants. While he doesn't get any answers right away, he does find out that his landlady is rather fond of stuffed domestic animals -- and exotic beverages. This merrily macabre episode was given the full "Hitchcock" treatment by both its original author Roald Dahl and its adaptor Robert Bloch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Third-rate escape artist Joe Ferlini (Keenan Wynn) hopes to make the big time with a particularly dangerous stunt, in which he will be manacled hand and foot and locked into a submerged trunk. Both Joe's wife Wanda (Jan Sterling) and his manager Phil (Dennis Patrick) try to talk Joe out of this stunt, but only Phil is sincere; the faithless Wanda intends to use Joe's big escape as a cover for her plan to murder him. As things turn out, Wanda "wins" -- at least until the day of Joe's funeral, that is. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
On the eve of his execution for a crime he didn't commit, Gerald Daniels (Harry Guardino) makes one last request: a typewriter. Angrily, Daniels pounds out a damning critique of D.A. Bernard Butler (Hugh Marlowe), the man who had sent him to death row. Daniels reveals that, not only did Butler prosecute him unfairly, but that the D.A. had previously condemned an innocent man for a murder that Butler had actually committed! "Is this the sort of man you want for governor?" Daniels asks at the conclusion of his embittered harangue -- just before an ironic twist caps this episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Retired professional assassin Frank Burns (Richard Conte) has told his new wife, Loretta (Sara Shane), that he used to be an engineer. Unfortunately, a man named Cullen (Stacy Harris) knows the truth about Burns, and he threatens to tell all unless he is paid off. Not one to be threatened, Frank briefly comes out of retirement to deal with Cullen -- which proves to be, shall we say, a fatal error. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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