Hans Albers:Hamburg's singing acting legend

Hans Albers embodied the lovable sea dog like no other. Songs like "On the Reeperbahn at half past midnight" and films like "Great Freedom No. 7" made the Hamburger immortal. He was born in Hamburg on September 22, 1891.

Hans Philipp August Albers was born in Hamburg on September 22, 1891 as the youngest of six children. His father achieved modest prosperity as a master butcher. Blonde Hans grows up in St. Georg, near the Alster.

Hans Albers and his early love for the theater

There, as a schoolboy, he scrubbed excursion boats to finance his growing passion:the theatre. He visits the Deutsches Schauspielhaus as often as possible and dreams of an acting career. At his father's request, however, he began a commercial apprenticeship in Hamburg and worked in a silk company in Frankfurt. He also secretly takes acting lessons. At the age of 20, Hans Albers gave up his job as a merchant to make his dream come true.

Waiting and working for the big opportunity

But entry and promotion as an actor prove to be not easy. Hans Albers gathers his first stage experiences in provincial theaters, slaves away as a sethand. Smaller engagements take him to Frankfurt, Cologne and back to his hometown:he plays a lieutenant at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. He seizes every opportunity that comes his way, the young man with the pale blue eyes, the hypnotic gaze and the blond hair. However, since the latter are becoming increasingly scarce, over time Hans Albers rarely appears in public without a toupee.

In 1915 Hans Albers was drafted into the army. During World War I he served on the Eastern and Western Fronts until he was wounded and returned home. Before the end of the war he went to Berlin, healthy again, to try his luck in the lively metropolis as one of thousands of nameless actors. He plays everything he can get his hands on, mimicking sleazy womanizers and villains in comedies, operettas and revues. This does not bring the hoped-for breakthrough. "I had to wait and work for 20 years until my big chance came," Hans Albers once recalled of that time. The young man works tirelessly, during the day he takes part in silent films with titles such as "The Wrong Dimitri" and "Saxophon-Susi", and in the evening he is on the stage.

Hansi Burg - the love of his life

Hans Albers not only loves women, but also alcohol, but despite many nocturnal excesses, he pursues his career in a disciplined manner. After a liaison with the celebrated opera singer Claire Dux, he met the love of his life in the early 1920s:Hansi Burg, the daughter of his friend and mentor Eugen Burg. She becomes his most important confidant and manager.

"The Criminals" brings Hans Albers the breakthrough

In October 1928, at the age of 37, Hans Albers became famous overnight. Because an actor dropped out shortly before the premiere, he was given a role in the play "The Criminals" at the renowned Deutsches Theater under the director Max Reinhardt. As an unscrupulous waiter, Hans Albers becomes the star of the play. Berlin lies at his feet. Now offers are suddenly pouring in. Important directors such as Erwin Piscator and Gustaf Gründgens vie for the man with the extraordinary charisma. "This person shines enchantingly with inner, wanton joy, seems ready for any kind of madness, seems capable of everything that is happy, exuberant and at the same time quietly self-parodic," says the writer Felix Salten.

"Oops, here I come" becomes a popular song

In the early 1930s, the sound film began its triumphal procession - and with it Hans Albers. He made his first sound film "The Night Belongs to Us" in 1929, followed by dozens more, including 1930's "The Blue Angel" alongside Marlene Dietrich, in the same year "Hans in alle Gassen", 1931 "Bomben auf Monte Carlo". Heinz Rühmann and 1932 "Der Sieger". The hit "Oops, now I'm coming", which Hans Albers sings in it, becomes a hit. He shouldn't be the only one:Whether "Flieger, greet me the sun" or "Come on the swing, Luise":With his unmistakably brash voice, Hans Albers succeeds in one record hit after the other. In the early 1930s, at the peak of his career, he moved from Berlin to Bavaria, to Lake Starnberg.

Hans Albers - "state actor" of the National Socialists

"This Albers is a devil of a boy," Joseph Goebbels noted as early as 1932. The National Socialists, who came to power in Germany a short time later, could not avoid the blond, blue-eyed man, the "model Aryan" and box office magnet. They appoint him "state actor" and grant him staggering fees. But Hans Albers does not allow himself to be co-opted by the Nazis and demonstratively distances himself. Nevertheless, he takes part in some propaganda strips. Many of his Jewish film and theater colleagues were persecuted or even deported. Hans Albers is silent about it. His partner, the Jewess Hansi Burg, also fled from the Nazis to Great Britain in 1939. In 1946, one year after the end of the Second World War, she returned to Germany and her partner.

From the baron of lies to the melancholic drinker

In 1943, the color film "Münchhausen" was shot with great pomp. As a ludicrous baron of lies, Hans Albers finally advances to become the darling of the public. In 1944, Helmut Käutner made the legendary Reeperbahn film "Große Freiheit Nr. 7", which, contrary to Goebbels' plans, was a rather quiet, melancholic film. Here Hans Albers shines as a former sailor and drinker. His most well-known song comes from this film:"On the Reeperbahn at half past midnight".

After the war:roles as paternal types

Politically hardly burdened, Hans Albers can continue his career seamlessly after the collapse of Nazi Germany. In 1945 he was already 54 years old. He no longer embodies bold lovers and daredevils, now he rather plays lovable, fatherly types. With films such as "Night on the Streets" in 1951 or "Before Sunset" in 1956, Hans Albers was able to prove his acting talent again and build on old successes. Other films and roles, on the other hand, flopped, including "Das Herz von St. Pauli" from 1957, a pale imitation of the seaman's film "Große Freiheit Nr. 7".

Hans Albers - The most important films

Hans Albers has appeared in over 100 silent films and numerous sound films. A selection of his most important films:

1930:"The Blue Angel" - directed by:Josef von Sternberg
1930:"Hans in alle Gassen" - directed by:Carl Froelich
1931:"Bombs on Monte Carlo" - directed by:Hanns Schwarz
1932:"F.P.1 Doesn't Answer" - Director:Karl Hartl
1937:"The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" - Director:Karl Hartl
1939:"Water for Canitoga" - Director:Herbert Selpin
1942:"Münchhausen" - director:Josef von Baky
1944:"Große Freiheit Nr. 7" - director:Helmut Käutner
1952:"Nachts auf den Straßen" - director:Rudolf Jugert
1953:"Käpt'n Bay-Bay" - Director:Helmut Käutner
1954:"On the Reeperbahn at half past midnight" - Director:Wolfgang Liebeneiner
1956:"Before Sunset" - Directed by:Gottfried Reinhardt
1957:"The Great Bomberg" - Directed by:Rolf Thiele
1957:"The Heart of St. Pauli" - Directed by Eugen York
1958:"The Man in the Stream " - Director:Eugen York

The last few years - Albers continues to play

In the 1950s, the success slowly diminished. The heartthrobs and film idols are now different. But Hans Albers continues to take on roles, including in the theatre. In 1960 he played an aged ringmaster in Carl Zuckmayer's play "Katharinas Knie". Hans Albers, who never let himself be doubled in his life and always performed the most daring jumps himself, also insists on artistic numbers here, at the age of 69.

Hans Albers:"Home is where someone dies"

In March 1960 he collapsed during a performance. On July 24, he dies - contrary to his earlier wishes - in a hospital on Lake Starnberg. "Home is where one dies, not where one lives. And when it's my turn, it should be in Hamburg," said Hans Albers. On July 29, he was buried in the cemetery in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf, accompanied by thousands of mourners.