GERRON, KURT

(Kurt Gerson, 1897-1944)

Actor. Gerron was a popular actor who worked steadily through the Weimar Republic and was later murdered in a Nazi concentration camp. He appeared in dozens ofBerlinproductions and made more than 50 films before his breakthrough in 1928 as Tiger Brown in the world premiere ofBertolt Brechtand Kurt Weill'sDie Dreigroschenoper(The Threepenny Opera) at theTheater am Schiffbauerdammin Berlin. His most significant silent film wasTagebuch einer Verlorenen(Diary of a Lost Girl, 1929) with Luise Brooks, in which he played Dr. Vitalis. His most important sound film wasDer blaue Engel(The Blue Angel, 1931) with Marlene Dietrich, in which he played Kiepert the Magician. Later in 1930 he played Dr. Kalmus in the musical comedy filmDrei von der Tankstelle(Three Friends from the Gas Station) with Lillian Harvey and Heinz Rühmann. After the National Socialists came to power, he left Germany for tours in Czechoslovakia and Austria, went to Paris to make a movie, and ended up in Holland. When German troops invaded and occupied Holland, he was arrested and sent to the Westerbork camp. In 1944 he was transported to Auschwitz, where he died in a gas chamber.