Alfred Abel

Alfred Abel was a German actor, director and producer, born in Leipzig on 12 March 1879, who died on 12 December 1937. After trying forestry, gardening, commercial training and a short course in art drafting, he took private acting classes and built a stage career in Lucerne and then in Berlin under Max Reinhardt, joining the Deutsches Theater in 1904. With help from Asta Nielsen he made his screen debut in 1913 and went on to appear in more than 140 silent and sound films for directors including Ernst Lubitsch, F. W. Murnau and Richard Oswald. His best-known role was Joh Fredersen, ruler of the city in Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927, and he was admired for a restrained style that avoided dramatic gesturing. He also directed four films: The Strike of the Thieves in 1921, made through his own company Artifex Film and a box office failure, then Narcose in 1929, Bon Voyage in 1933 and Everything for a Woman in 1935.