In the time of the roaring 20s when beauty was at its most popular and the most desirable (in both women AND men), how did someone like Rudolf Klein-Rogge become successful?
Because the audience learned to find the beauty within the beast...
He may have at first been a turn-off to some with his hateful looks, but he soon became endearing to the viewing public.
Though he might have been rough in appearance, he was attractive in his own way, and this helped make him the likeable villain many times over.
Although he has been thought of as being as wicked as his on-screen persona, he was actually a humble man who knew how to treat his fans
with overflowing courtesy.
And though today he is judged as having been a Nazi sympathizer and nothing more to think about, this aspect has been overly emphasized. He soon turned his back on that movement and went his own way, never looking back.
I hope with this introduction you will learn some hardly known facts about this mysterious actor. And maybe on your way through this site and all of its pages, you will come into contact with some of Rudolf's wry sense of humor. Yes, he was a comic at heart but had the face
of a criminal. These two opposing factors of his nature are what made him a hit on Germany's screens in the Weimar years.
To start from the beginning, little to nothing is known about who his parents were, only that his father was of some importance in the military.
And here is the first of the rarely spoken facts you will encounter here: Rudolf was not Klein-Rogge's first name.
And here is something to give you an idea of what Rudy looked like in the flesh...and in living color.
Eyes: Gray-blue
Hair: Golden blond
Height: 5 ft 8 in
Weight: 172 pounds (through rigorous training)
(These statistics are from an issue of the Austrian film magazine, "Mein Film", and they apply to his overall look in 1927. Note: He was much heavier during the filming of Dr. Mabuse)
So, now that you can make a fairly good mental picture of his appearance, here is how he came into the world. ------
On Saturday, November 24, 1885, Friederich Rudolf Klein-Rogge was born in Köln, Germany, on the Rhein River. He was the only son (see below) of a high-ranking military officer. His father apparently was a court-martial advisor. Nothing much is known about his years of upbringing, except that his father wanted for his son to become a career officer, so Rudolf was sent to Kadettenschule, a military school of the Navy in Köln. But after three years of this, Rudolf refused a miliary career. He went back to high school and soon graduated. He then studied art history and literature at the universities of Berlin and Bonn. While a university student, he took an interest in acting and began to take lessons in it on the side. His acting talent was soon discovered by an actor from the Vienna Burgttheater, Hans Siebert, who was impressed by Rudy's abilities, scouted him, and enrolled him in his drama class. In 1909, Klein-Rogge made his theatrical debut at age 20 in Julius Caesar, playing the role of Cassius, in the town of Halberstadt at the Stadttheater (1, 2). He played at this theater until 1914, going to Aachen (1, 2), Kiel and Düsseldorf through 1914-1915, and then at the end of 1918 he went to Nürnberg, where he became a member of the Bühnen and also started working as a stage director. He was also promoted to being a 'star' here for the first time.
-It is also interesting to note that Rudolf Klein-Rogge and Gottfried Huppertz had been friends since childhood, and it was Rudolf who first introduced Huppertz to Lang, which soon led to Huppertz having some on-screen roles in Lang's early works, including Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. Gottfried was a notable composer (in fact, he had dedicated his first composition to Rudolf), and this eventually led him to be the composer for the Lang mega-hits Die Nibelungen and Metropolis.-
Before the team of "Lang and von Harbou" there was "Klein-Rogge and von Harbou"....
But here is another little-known fact: Rudolf Klein-Rogge was actually married FOUR times, and Thea von Harbou was his SECOND wife. His first marriage was to an actress named Gerda Melchior who had previously been married to Jewish Gefängnisdirektor Carl Finkelnburg., with whom she had a daughter named Hilde Finkelnburg. This child, Rudolf's stepdaughter, would later be known as "Ela Elborg", who became a successful screen writer. Born January 8, 1899 in Wohlau, Ela died on May 3, 2004 in München (Munich). Mein Film Magazine's 1927, No. 69 edition included a Steckbrief about Rudolf that stated he was currently married to Margarete Neff, but had been divorced twice, once from Thea von Harbou, which is again confirmation of an earlier marriage before Thea. His third marriage was to Margarete Neff, from 1921 until 1927. They met while working on the film, "Die Nächte des Cornelius Brouwer", in 1921. (Margarete herself was married a total of four times. ) Rudolf's fourth marriage was to Swedish actress, Mary Johnson, who was born Astrid Maria Carlsson in 1896 in Fors, Sweden. She died in 1975 in Brännkyrka, Sweden. Mary had also been married at one time to Einar Rod who played in "The Parson's Widow" released in 1920, and to Karl-Gerhard (Johnsson), born 1891 in Stockholm and died in 1964, who was a writer and an actor.
Although the exact date (1914 or 1918?) and the exact theater, (Lessing-Theater or somewhere else in Aachen) are still undecided among many conflicting sources, there was a pairing of Rudolf Klein-Rogge and budding stage actress Thea von Harbou. Some sources say they met in Aachen, before 1914, where she came under Klein-Rogge's stage direction. Although plausible, he was supposedly not to start directing until later years. Another source says they crossed paths in the Lessing-Theater in 1918, but this does not sound correct either if they were already married and moving to Berlin in 1917. Yet another source records that they divorced in 1921 after being married 7 years, which would put the marriage date sometime in 1914. Pick whichever version suits you for this, as I have not been able to track this down firmly. One well-researched book about Fritz Lang says Thea made her own stage debut in 1906 in Düsseldorf at the Schauspeilhaus and was acting on stage in Aachen just before World War I, where she eventually married during that war the stage director, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, reported to be a well cultivated and good-humored man. To make a long explanation much less complicated, they met sometime while working at the same theater and were married a short time after. Rudolf still played at theaters in small German provinces and quickly became well known and successful. He soon received an invitation around 1917 to come to the Berlin Lessing-Theater, where he was very successful with director Viktor Barnowsky.
Here I must insist that someone try to fill in what's missing, and correct what has gone wrong in the stories handed down over the years. The most popular idea behind his coming to Berlin was that von Harbou was not making enough money on her book sales where they were living, whether it was Aachen or Nürnberg, or somewhere else. It is said that Klein-Rogge made the decision to move to Berlin so she could be more successful in her own works, as she had now given up stage completely and was focusing on writing. Supposedly, when he came to Berlin, he tried to recreate his prior run of succeses at the Lessing-Theater, as he had in the smaller theaters.
One story says he was not well received at the Lessing and his career soon came to an abrupt halt, which later compelled him to look to the movies for work.
The other version of this story says he was so well known throughout the theater circuit that he was INVITED to the Lessing and was a great success there, then only moving into movies later on, I guess, by his own choice.
In regard to these two versions, I am inclined to believe the latter because - and only because - there was a time when he did have trouble finding work, but that was after he was ALREADY in film. What happened was, I believe, as was said in reviews at the time, he had a great run at the Lessing in the productions of Ludwig Barnowsky. He became very popular here, playing at this theater well into 1924. Some of his most famous appearances on stage during this period were his roles as the bank director in George Kaiser's play, "Von morgens bis Mitternacht " (1921) and in Emil Lind's adaptation of Kaiser's "Kolportage". George Kaiser would become one of the famous writers of the expressionistic years, i.e. the 1920s.
What is known is that in 1917, one of Thea's stories was bought by May-Film GmbH. Thea got a job writing scenes for Joe May and it was he who introduced her to Fritz Lang. She began to work with him on the screenplay for her novel, "Das indische Grabmal".
In 1919, Rudolf and his wife Thea were living at Siemenstrasse 52-53 in Lankwitz in the area of Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin. Fritz Lang apparently lived in this general vicinity also, on Tharandterstrasse but in 1920 moved to Hohenzollerndamm 52, Apartment 3. Thea would later move into her own apartment in that same building.
In 1919, Rudolf went into doing film work as well, but only received minor supporting roles at first, working at different Berlin film companies such as Atlantic, Luna, and Deutsche Bioscop. He had a small featured role in Bruno Zeitner's "Das Licht Am Fenster" in 1919. Rudy did begin to get acclaim from the critics while playing parts in Film Serials with silent star, Ria Witt, under the direction of Zietner, and with Sybil Smolowa, under the direction of Rudolf Leffler.
By 1920, Joe May had decided to delay the production of "Das indische Grabmal" to first produce von Harbou's and Lang's "Das wandernde Bilde" and it was at this time that Thea's influence undoubtedly won her husband Rudolf Klein-Rogge a screen test for the part of the cousin of the twin brothers. It would be the first of many good roles under the demanding director.
Regarding Rudy's work in 1920, I'm sure what I am about to say will be perceived as my most controversial item on this entire site, but here is the reason why I do not mention his role in "Das Kabinet des Dr. Caligari" which was also released in 1920. When I came so close that one time to getting hold of the only documentary on Rudy's life, the description for it said (and his family members said this, not I) that it had been a MISTAKE that has been made over and over again through the years that he was in "Dr. Caligari". I could not believe this either, trust me. But after looking more closely at the man playing the part of the criminal in that film, I could see more clearly that it was NOT Klein-Rogge in that role. I'm sure a lot of people can't see the difference, but you have to remember this one thing that will always help you recognize Rudolf: The central plane on his face pointed noticeably to his right side. With the exception of his eyes, his whole face - nose, mouth, and top jaw - all slanted to the right, a physical defect he had been born with. This was most notably visible with his nose, which was severely slanted to his right. This actor who was supposed to be Klein-Rogge had no such features, nose and all. The actor was so similar he could have been Rudolf's twin, but not quite. Plus, even in small roles, Rudy always tried to give a fine performance.. The actor playing the criminal gave a performance so tame and watered down that he could not have been Klein-Rogge in any shape or form.
Now, for my solution for clearing up this whole mess: He was actually in "Nosferatu", not "Dr. Caligari". My close friend Rome Maynard, who owns the terrific site 'Rome's Metropolis', had told me through an email once that he had seen someone who looked like Rudy in "Nosferatu". I asked him to please send me a screen capture or anything with which I could identify the actor in question. This was not possible at the time, so I put this into my memory storage for a later date. Upon our first get-together, Rome wanted to show me "Nosferatu" and let me see for myself if it was or was not Rudolf Klein-Rogge in an uncredited role. I used to think this was him, but now I'm undecided about the matter. Someone else I spoke to said it was definitely not him, others say it is. I'll let the reader decide for his or herself whether this is Rudolf or not. Maybe someday an original or copy of the Nosferatu shooting script will surface and we'll see if his name is mentioned in the credits, or if not his, then who it really was.
That all being said, now let's get back to "Das wandernde Bild". I sometimes like to imagine the strenuous screen test Klein-Rogge must have received when he first tried out for Lang. One can only imagine that Lang, not quickly to be impressed by a newcomer, must have been quite impressed and had to swallow his pride as he signed up Rudy before anyone else could grab him. Shooting for "Das wandernde Bild" began in July 1920 in the Bavarian Alps. Then in 1921 came "Kampfende Herzen", a film that is said to be the rival to Metropolis. Later in 1921 came "Der Mude Tod" ("The Weary Death") a double role for Rudy this time.
After this much good fortune, something went wrong. In 1920, Rudolf Klein-Rogge found himself without a wife. Why was this? Apparently Thea von Harbou had been necessarily meeting with Fritz Lang almost every day because of her own career. With so many common interests, talks became loving looks and later became advances. Lang was notorious for his flings with most every woman he came into contact with. I'm sure Rudolf knew this well, but it has been said that he and Lang were the best of friends - why should he worry....? This all must have been very hard for him to cope with, finding out that his Thea was having an affair with his best friend, Fritz. To this day, certain undeniable physical signs of depression are evident in the films that followed. Klein-Rogge put on a lot of weight in a short period of time, as visible in Dr. Mabuse. And even though he was only acting his part in Mabuse, Rudolf certainly had some kind of hidden resentment that showed up well in his fits of madness on the screen. But even though having lost his wife to his director, the year of 1922 brought a star into the silent era------------
To get fourth, third, even second billing would have been by a stroke of pure luck for Klein-Rogge. His talents were not always being shown well in the roles he was playing. Some great moments came through in "Der Mude Tod", but that was not quite what was needed to show what he could really do. Why he was chosen to play the legendary psychoanalyst from Hell is a mystery, but Fritz Lang's choice to use Klein-Rogge as his screen version of writer Norbert Jacque's Dr. Mabuse is by far the best thing that ever could have happened to Rudolf Klein-Rogge. As his first two-part film, this was a big move for Klein-Rogge, being that he got to be the title character on the grand scale that only UFA studio could furnish. In short, Germany never knew what hit it when this film premiered.
On April 27, 1922, the ground-breaking film "Doktor Mabuse, der Spieler" premiered at the UFA-Palast-Am-Zoo. If he had not been noticed before, Rudolf was certainly in the public eye now, as he was now the most-feared of all movie villains the audience had ever seen...and the most beloved. It is truly touching how the audience in those days knew how to treat a special actor: They would throw bouquets of flowers onto the stage when the star came out for his lone bow to the audience.. After the whole cast had taken their curtain call at the end of the film, Rudolf and Fritz Lang then went out a second time. Not since he had been the star of the theater had Rudolf had such a showering of affection from an audience. He had finally found his place.... and Thea thought she had found hers. She married Fritz Lang in August, 1922. Her family reported that her divorce from Rudolf was amicable, which certainly must have been true, as she continued to work for his advancement long after, as evidenced in his roles in some of the films she was involved in: "Hanneles Himmelfährt" in 1934, "Elisabeth und der Narr" in 1934, "Der Alte und der junge König" in 1935, and "Der Herrscher" in 1937.
Although it had been hard after just getting over a divorce and coming into a bad period in the German economy, Rudolf managed to stay on top, ironically, as the fearsome Dr. Mabuse. This film was the very first the studio actually worked hard to publicize. Film-Kuriers, UFA-Magazins, posters, and all sorts of paper items were printed out with Rudolf's evil visage in the print. But film critics of the time were divided on his performance. Fritz Goetz was of the opinion that Klein-Rogge's portrayal was first-class, alive, and convincing. "He is a gambler, beyond good and evil and he loves just one sensation: to gamble with the fates and lives of human beings (Vossiche Zeitung v. 28.4.1922). But Herman Ihering of the "Berliner Börsen-Courier" wrote on 11.6.1922, "Klein-Rogge, a routine actor, tried to act realistic by changing his face into various masks. This is not a good kind of acting... Klein-Rogge makes masks, but not with real life. He is just an imitator." Even the early German silent stars had their problems with the press. Felicie Berger wrote in "Mein Film", the Austrian film magazine, "Through his magnificent work in his film role as 'Dr. Mabuse', Rudolf Klein-Rogge arrived as a film artist of international importance."
I'd like to stop here and say what certainly some people must have wondered in those days about Rudy. What we see on the screen is a maniac, an all-powerful hypnotist with no sense of right and wrong, and no self-control when it comes to what he wants. But in real life, surely fans were stunned at how charming Rudolf was in person. I just find it completely intriguing that he could have become so beloved by the public , while on screen he had frightened them out of their wits. The audience had stood up and cheered when his floating face flew toward the screen with his piercing, overpowering gaze. Somehow, I think they really liked him because he was an anti-hero of sorts, the exact polar opposite of the heroic type on the screen. Actually, no one in "Dr. Mabuse" seemed to be a cardboard character, not even the heroes. The realism was so close to what was happening in Germany at the time that Mabuse became more of a myth than a character, and I believe that is why the character is still so popular today. And even though several other actors played this role in remakes, it is Rudolf's portrayal that is still the one best remembered.
How can you blame them for remembering his portrayal the most? The same would go if anyone else ever played Rotwang, or Haghi, or even King Etzel. Rudolf's portrayals of these characters would always be the best and would be the standard to measure by.
After such a huge success with Mabuse, Rudolf was then called up in 1924 to be in the new UFA super-production of "Die Nibelungen". He would not be credited, though, for all of his work, as I will explain here. Although in an embarrassing way, he was also in "Siegfried", the first half of "Die Nibelungen".
Paul Richter was the hero of the film, in fact it was the role of his life, but he had constant battles with Fritz Lang over how his scenes were being filmed. But when it came to the famous scene of Siegfried bathing in the blood of dragon, Fafnir, the fight of the century erupted over what to do here ----- Richter was NOT going to bare all for this pivotal scene! No matter what!
I almost think that as a way to get back at Paul for not doing the scene, Lang called in Rudolf to do the scene. I cannot even begin to guess what Rudy said when asked to do this scene in the nude. For a reason yet to be explained, he, over anyone closer to Richter's build, had been chosen by Lang and did as asked. Stripped down to.... well, nothing, he did the scene while a fuming Richter stood off on the sidelines.
Lang probably wondered why this so angered Richter. It seems that Paul, the slim and trim audience favorite, was none too pleased at the thought that the backside of the stocky Klein-Rogge would be thought of as Richter's own behind! All I can say is this --- Why should he have been bothered about this? At least he got to keep his clothes on. Think about Rudolf almost freezing to death in that northern wind, while wading in the buff.
In "Kriemhild's Revenge", Rudolf was able to be seen without shame, and fully clothed, as the Hun, King Etzel. It's ridiculous that he is called Attila in the American version of the film. Attila was a very vicious Hun compared to the much milder Etzel. I thought this should be mentioned so that no one will get the wrong idea that Etzel is supposed to be the Scourge of Europe. Except for the fact that Etzel was going to lay seige to Rome at one point, the two characters have no other similarities. Although a serious role for the most part, the Hun King is seen at various points in the film as being buffoon-ish, such as when he starts doing a little dance to the Nibelungs' death song at the end.
My very favorite part in "Kriemhild's Revenge" is when Etzel holds his son for the first time : )
After a few more non-Lang films, Rudolf was called in again to play a role that had been tailored after his true self.
In "Metropolis", Rudolf was slated to play the eccentric inventor, C.A. Rotwang. But how coincidental this was for him, to have to act a character so emotionally destroyed over losing his beloved to his best friend. Thea von Harbou, in what probably was a show of sympathy to her ex-husband, must have written this role for him to be his definitive film counterpart, with a little mad science thrown in for good measure. The funny thing is what a hard time Rudolf had coping with the technical-minded Rotwang, as he himself would write, because he was not at all good with such things in real life.
He wrote of this lack of knowledge of things mechanical in an article for UFA-Magazin about his experience in Metropolis - "One morning I found our workspace at Neubabelsburg strangely transformed (*lab set*). Strange for me, the nontechnical-type, who has not even the first idea of how to fix an electric doorbell." Later on, he speaks of what a time he had trying to make the transformation scene look convincing - an unexpected statement to read from the great actor, indeed. Therefore he said he just did everything as best he could and hoped it would not look ridiculous on screen. To his relief, he had done just what was needed, and the transformation scene came off as the highlight of the film. Rudolf also said that by the time of the premiere, he had forgotten most of what he had filmed during the year before. When he sat in the audience for the first time "Metropolis" was shown (I wish I had been there!), Rudolf was utterly thunderstruck at what he had been involved in. After all of the postproduction special effects had been added in, he could hardly believe what he was seeing, and commented upon it exceedingly. The nice closing to his magazine article was that he hoped everyone would enjoy watching "Metropolis" as much as he had.
I'm sure a lot of people reading this could add their "Amen" to that. (Those interested can read the above-mentioned article here.)
One other thing that is noticeable in this article is Rudolf's disliking of Fritz Lang's directing style. Although he was used to executing acting perfection from his theater experience, Rudolf was appalled at Lang's brutal ways of getting actors to do as told. He was especially sympathetic to Brigitte Helm, at her having to endure the Machine-Man outfit for hours on end under the stifling hot lights. Always trying to lighten the mood a bit, Rudolf made a very funny remark about Brigitte being locked up in a "sardine can" for the filming of her few scenes as Futura. He witnessed the very first time she had to take a few steps in the stiff legs of the costume, and her great fall onto the hard floor that soon occurred. Feeling sorry for her rattled nerves and aching body, Rudy and, I assume, Alfred Abel and a few other crew members started secretly slipping pocketchange into the slits of her armor casing. As Klein-Rogge said, "She was a good money box". The tired and grateful Helm would then pick out the change after she took off the outfit and would head to the cafeteria to buy herself hot chocolate.
As for Klein-Rogge's disapproval of Lang's acting direction, I think he came up with his own private way of getting back at Lang for all the hardships the director created for the cast: Rudolf never listened to Fritz' direction! No, he would not listen, at all, to Lang, even when being screamed at for making a mistake. After all, Rudy had too much pride in himself to be treated like a dog, as he himself was a director in theater. Sort of a clashing of egos must have been going on behind the scenes of many a film, but I should think Lang had to just fold his arms and be quiet, because Rudolf made it clear with such hits as "Dr. Mabuse" and "Die Nibelungen" that he DID NOT NEED TO BE SCOURGED TO GET THE SCENE RIGHT! The only other actor to get away with this kind of nose-thumbing and not be fired was Bernhard Goetzke, who had been Rudolf's co-star in both halves of "Dr. Mabuse". I would have enjoyed seeing Lang's caged fury at having to let these two alone while they did their scenes together as the bad doctor and the chief inspector.
But speaking of scenes, there is one scene in "Kriemhild's Revenge" in which Rudolf did get viciously corrected, and this same scene is in the print in question. On the Kino DVD of "Die Nibelungen", when Etzel is about to take his robe off to lay it down for Lady Kriemhild, you will see Rudolf suddenly lose character on the screen and look off to his right, a reproved expression on his face. The scene is then repeated and he takes the robe off again, this time to Lang's liking. I do not even want to know what an ear-ful Klein-Rogge received simply for not taking his robe off the right way, Lang's "right way" that is.
In the middle of making "Metropolis, in July 1926 to be more exact, he was doing something for Südfilm (source: "Metropolis, Images D'Un Tournage"). And in October 1926, while working on "Metropolis", he is known to have made a trip to Paris to work on "Casanova".
And shortly after "Metropolis", in 1928, came "Spione", almost a remake of "Doktor Mabuse". This was another hit film, but Rudy's last silent film for Lang for a long time, returning later to work for the director in a sound picture.
After "Spione" followed a period of working in France in 1928 and 1929, where he played most notably in Henri Chomette's "Le Requin", their first big talking production. He seems to have made a total of 4 or 5 films there.
Then in 1933 Lang brought him back for one final role, a reprisal of his character of Dr. Mabuse, in "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse". Most of us fans know how and why Lang left Germany (remember Goebbel's offer?) soon after this film, and that seems to be when Rudolf's career began to decline. With Hitler's rise to power in 1933 and Goebbel's control of the film industry, Rudy received much smaller parts. He did write the dialogue for "Sergeant Berry", released in 1938. His career continued winding ever downward and in the 1940s there was a 7-year period from 1942 until 1949 where he had no film credits. He finally played his last role on screen in an uncredited part of "Hexen", which was made in 1944 but not released until 1949. Thus in reality, his career actually had pretty much ended in 1942's "Hochzeit auf dem Bärenhof". It has been said that although he was an enthusiastic early partisan of the NSDAP, something occurred which caused him to fall out of favor with Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Goebbels ,and this undoubtedly was a major factor in the sudden decline in his career. Could it have been that Goebbels associated him with the Jewish director Fritz Lang who had left Germany rather than work for the Nazi regime? If so, with just one stroke of his pen, Goebbels had the power to effectively kill the career of Rudolf Klein-Rogge, particularly in light of his known friendship with the noncompliant director, Fritz Lang. After this, most of Rudy's parts were forgettable, but a few of the better roles he was able to land were in the 1936 Detlef Sierck film, "Das Hofkonzert" and Erich Waschneck's comedy, "Die Göttliche Jette". But, also worth mentioning were a few other film roles that I've only come to know well by viewing them firsthand: "Der Judas von Tirol" and "Der Alte and Der Junge König" gave him fairly good, though small, roles and exceptionally good characters to keep him happy.
Sometime during World War II, Rudy formed his own theatre touring group and took it throughout the destroyed Germany, Austria, and in Switzerland, continuing after the end of the War. He also directed and performed in plays at the well-known Kömodienhaus in Berlin, which was destroyed by bombs in November, 1943. (One of the programs from Kömodienhaus is viewable on this site)
08/05/04: This new information is added with special thanks to Uwe Melchert.
One of the reasons Rudy had such a terrible time finding film work in the late 1930s to early 1940s was because he had essentially been black-listed by the propaganda minister when the UFA Studio was under Nazi control. Goebbels made five lists for the actors and actresses of the time:
List one had the top stars such as Hans Albers, Zarah Leander, Lil Dagover, Henny Porten etc.
List two had a few hundred names who got work all the time, such as Otto Wernicke, Theo Lingley, etc.
List three had even lesser favored stars.
List four, which had only about ten names, was a fairly bad list to have your name on; any directors who wanted to use someone from this particular list had to give a statement as to why they would want an artist from this list.
List five was the bottom of the barrel, as the only people on THIS list were ones who Goebbels truly hated and wanted seen less of in film, such as Joachim Gottschalk who with his Jewish wife Meta and son committed suicide rather than obey Goebbel's "suggestion" that they divorce..
Although not on the very worst of the lists, Rudy was on list number 4, thus making it difficult for any directors to get hold of him for any kind of film work. With this depressing fate slapped on him, matters only got worse for Rudolf because even his stage work did not earn him enough to take care of his family.
Death came for Rudolf on April 30, 1955 in the beautiful mountainous region of Wetzelsdorf, Austria where he had lived in retirement with his wife Mary Johnson. It has been written that he died in poverty and forgotten by the public. It has been reported that his wife Mary suffered a complete nervous breakdown after he died. That just shows me how very deeply this man was loved by some, even if forgotten by most. Let us correct this great wrong and keep alive the memory of this wonderful actor . It is my wish that he receive his just place of remembrance in this world. He had one known child, a daughter by his fourth wife Mary Johnson, whose name is unknown. Mary also had a son from a previous marriage, Egil Hartmut Johnson, whom Rudolf seems to have accepted as if he were his own son.
There is just one thing, though, that particularly struck me about the death of this great man. His ex-wife Thea von Harbou, who was three years his senior, had died in the year 1954. Rudolf was not extremely old, and yet no where it is said what he died of. No lengthy illness, no heart problems, nothing at all to explain what happened to him. And yet, he only lasted one more year after the woman most responsible for his life's achievements passed on. It is strange how fate can tie two people together...
NOTE: The information that Rudolf was an only son came from his own lips, in the following manner: In an interview dated May 8, 2002, actress Mady Rahl provided this interesting bit of information: "Meine Schauspiellehrerin hieß Frau Stern und ihr Lebensgefährte hieß Rogge. Als ich dann später beim Film war, hat man mich natürlich auch hin und wieder interviewt und dabei habe ich mal gesagt, ich hätte beim Bruder des berühmten Klein-Rogge Schauspielunterricht gehabt. Der Schauspieler Klein-Rogge schrieb mir dann aber einen Brief: 'Liebes Fräulein Rahl, ich finde es zauberhaft, dass Sie bei meinem Bruder Unterricht hatten. Nur - ich habe gar keinen Bruder!' " Roughly translated, she had commented in interviews that she had taken acting lessons from this Mrs. Stern and her companion Mr. Klein-Rogge, the brother of the famous actor Rudolf Klein-Rogge, but Rudolf sent her a little note saying , "Dear Fräulein Rahl, I find it charming that you are taking acting lessons from my brother, only - I have no brother!"
But Rudolf himself was an acting instructor too. One of his students was the Swedish-born Kristina Söderbaum, who studied with him in 1934, shortly after she came to Berlin to live with relatives after her parents had died in Sweden. She soon became involved in the Nazi propaganda film industry, which promoted her to stardom as "the ideal Arian woman" publicized by the National Socialists.
