Max Hansen

Biography

Max Hansen was born in Mannheim, Germany, but was raised by his step parents in Munich. His mother was a Danish Actress, Eva Haller, his father's name was von Waldheim. In his school days, he already sang at the Opera House, so he earned the nickname "The Little Caruso" ("Der kleine Caruso"). Later he studied Music and Voice and got a job at the Simplizissimus Cabaret in Munich. From 1914 he played Operettas in Vienna and became a good friend of Franz Lehár. After that he worked in Berlin at the Metropole Theater and became there a superstar of operettas, revues, cabaret and radio. He began acting in five silent films, from 1926 to 28. His first talkie was Wien, du Stadt der Lieder (1930) ("Vienna, City of Song") (1930). In 1932 he played opposite Gitta Alpar in She, or Nobody (1932) ("She, or Nobody"). He left Germany in 1933 for Vienna and to play in Switzerland, Amsterdam, Oslo and Helsinki. On a late summer day in 1936, while she was in Copenhagen, Swedish singer Zarah Leaner received a telephone call from Max Hansen. He asked her if she spoke German and she replied that she did. Next he wanted to know if she would take the female lead in "Axel an der Himmels Tür" ("Axel at the Gate of Heaven"), an Operetta with music by Ralph Benatzky. Hansen, in collaboration with Paul Morgan and Hans Weigel, was producing the Operetta in Theater an der Wien. Zarah was so excited to get her first German speaking role that she accepted the part without even asking how much money they were offering her. In 1949 Max Hansen visited Hamburg, in 1951 he played in Berlin and Scandinavia. He died in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1961.