Fritz Leiber

Known for ActingBorn 1882-01-29Died 1949-10-14Chicago, Illinois, USA

Fritz Reuter Leiber Sr. was an American actor. A Shakespearean actor on stage, he also had a successful career in film. He was the father of science fiction and fantasy writer Fritz Leiber Jr., who was also an actor for a time. Leiber and his wife spent much of their time touring in a Shakespearean acting company, known by the 1930s as Fritz Leiber & Co. Leiber made his film bow in 1916, playing Mercutio in the Francis X. Bushman version of “Romeo and Juliet.” With his piercing eyes and shock of white hair, Leiber seemed every inch the priests, professors, musical professors, and religious fanatics that he was frequently called upon to play in films. His many silent-era portrayals included Caesar in Theda Bara's 1917 “Cleopatra” and Solomon in the mammoth 1921 Betty Blythe vehicle “The Queen of Sheba.” He thrived as a character actor in sound films, usually in historical roles. In the film “Champagne Waltz” he portrayed an orchestra maestro; the role required him to play classical music on a violin and jazz on a clarinet. One of Leiber's larger assignments of the 1940s, and his most notable musical role, was as Franz Liszt in the Claude Rains' remake of “Phantom of the Opera” (1943). Leiber appears together with his son Fritz Leiber Jr. in the wedding-feast scene of Greta Garbo's film “Camille” (1936) and in Warner Bros.' “The Great Garrick” (1937). Leiber also appeared with his son Fritz Leiber Jr. in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939), but Fritz Leiber Jr. was not credited for his small speaking part. Late in his career, Leiber performed briefly opposite Charles Chaplin as the priest who visits Monsieur Verdoux in his prison cell.Read more

Movies & web series

Champagne Waltz

The Song of the Soul

If I Were King

Sins of Man

The Queen of Sheba

Strange Journey

Another Part of the Forest

Monsieur Verdoux

Scarlet Street

Gateway

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

All This, and Heaven Too

The Sea Hawk

The Web

Humoresque

The Cisco Kid Returns

Aloma of the South Seas

Under Southern Stars

Devil's Doorway

The Story of Louis Pasteur

Lady with Red Hair

A Tale of Two Cities

Pack Up Your Troubles

The Prince and the Pauper

They Made Her a Spy

Samson and Delilah

First Comes Courage

Nurse Edith Cavell

Dangerous Venture

Angel on My Shoulder

The Spanish Main

A Scandal in Paris

Adventures of Casanova

The Great Garrick

Phantom of the Opera

Bagdad

This Love of Ours

To the Ends of the Earth

Crossroads

Anthony Adverse

Bride of Vengeance

Cobra Woman

Flight Into Nowhere

Down to the Sea

Inner Sanctum

Song of India

The Jury's Secret

Hearts in Bondage