Richard Romanowsky

Biography

Generally delightful Austrian character actor, the son of a railway official. Romanowsky had been variously employed as a locksmith and a wood carver, before becoming a student of the dramatic arts in Vienna and eventually making his stage debut in 1905. A protégé of Max Reinhardt, Romanowsky could count on regular engagements at leading theatres in Berlin and Vienna where he established himself as a firm audience favorite in comical or avuncular roles for more than half a century. His screen career followed a similar pattern. Though he never rose to the same level of stardom as compatriots Hans Moser or Paul Hörbiger, Romanowsky could usually be found among the top four or five on the list of credits. He even had a rare starring role as a shrewd retired accountant in Fremdenheim Filoda (1937). Occasionally, as in The Night with the Emperor (1936), he commanded what amounted to being the male leading role (in this instance opposite Jenny Jugo). Easily the majority of his films in the 30's and 40's were lightweight musical or romantic comedies, enlivened, even occasionally rescued from mediocrity, by Romanowsky's gallery of eccentric professors, theatre directors, befuddled aristocrats or senile old dodderers. His post-war career was severely hampered by eye problems, culminating in temporary blindness in 1954. He retired in 1961 and died seven years later from the effects of an accident suffered at a health resort/spa in Bad Hall in July 1968.