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Robert Peter Freytag (7 April 1916 in Vienna – 8 July 2010 in Munich), known professionally as Robert Freitag, was an Austrian-Swiss stage and screen actor and film director.
Freitag was the son of the Swiss opera singer Otto Freitag (Otto Freytag). He was trained as an actor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. During the Nazi era, he went to Switzerland, where he was active as an actor at the Schauspielhaus Zürich (Zürich playhouse). In 1945, he married the German actress Maria Becker, who had studied acting in Vienna and who since had been at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, which had benefitted from the presence of German émigrés during the Second World War. Becker became a Swiss citizen by marrying Freitag.[1][2]
In 1949, Freitag began participating in the Salzburg Festival. Later he performed, among other places, at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus and the Hamburger Kammerspiele, both in Hamburg.
With his wife Maria Becker and the German stage actor Will Quadflieg, he founded the Zürcher Schauspieltruppe in 1956 in Zürich, where he was also a part-time administrator. That troupe performed throughout the German-speaking countries and in the United States.[1]
On stage, he played many classical and modern roles. Beginning in 1941, he appeared in films— in particular in the starring role in William Tell. Later, he often appeared on television.
Freitag and Maria Becker were divorced in 1966, but they continued to work together, especially in the travelling theater company Schauspieltruppe Zürich that they had founded. They had three sons, two of whom—Benedict Freitag and Oliver Tobias—became actors.[1]
In 1994, Freitag's autobiography, Es wollt mir behagen, mit Lachen die Wahrheit zu sagen was published by Pendo Verlag.
In 2001, at the age of 85, he had a role in the made-for-TV film Die Liebenden vom Alexanderplatz (The Alexanderplatz Lovers), directed by Detlef Rönfeldt.
Freitag's second marriage, to the German actress Maria Sebaldt, lasted from 1966 until his death. They lived in Grünwald, Bavaria. They had a daughter.[1]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Love is Duty Free | Swiss customs officer | |
| 1941 | Bieder der Flieger | Oskar Bider | |
| 1943 | Wilder Urlaub | Sergeant Epper | |
| 1948 | Die Frau am Weg | the fugitive | |
| 1949 | White Gold | Andreas | |
| 1950 | Es liegt was in der Luft | ||
| 1951 | Decision Before Dawn | Sgt. Paul Richter | |
| 1953 | The Village Under the Sky | Dr. Michael Ellert | |
| 1954 | A Woman of Today | Aldo Mattei | |
| 1954 | Circus of Love | Richards | |
| 1954 | Conchita and the Engineer | Cyll Farney | |
| 1954 | The Silent Angel | Robert | |
| 1954 | Dear Miss Doctor | Father Anselmus | |
| 1955 | I Know What I'm Living For | Peter Neumann, mechanic | |
| 1955 | The Plot to Assassinate Hitler | Captain Lindner | |
| 1955 | Magic Fire | August Roeckel | |
| 1955 | Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne | Roy Bentley | |
| 1955 | Escape to the Dolomites | Sergio | |
| 1956 | The First Day of Spring | Bruno | |
| 1956 | Der Meineidbauer | first border policeman | |
| 1956 | Von der Liebe besiegt (Schicksal am Matterhorn) | Beni Kronig – mountain guide | |
| 1957 | The Big Chance | Chaplain Sommer | |
| 1958 | Resurrection | Simonson | |
| 1959 | SOS – Gletscherpilot | Engineer Gisler | |
| 1961 | William Tell | William Tell | |
| 1961 | The Last Chapter (Das letzte Kapitel) | Lawyer Robertsen | |
| 1962 | The Longest Day | Meyer's Aide | Uncredited |
| 1963 | The Great Escape | Captain Posen | |
| 1969 | The Age of the Fish | Caesar | TV film |
| 1976 | Néa | Benito | |
| 1976 | Riedland | ||
| 1981 | Berlin Tunnel 21 | Dr. Lentz | |
| 1984 | Bluebeard | TV film | |
| 1985 | Wild Geese II | Stroebling | |
| 1985 | A Crime of Honour a.k.a. A Song for Europe | Moser | TV film |
| 2001 | Die Liebenden vom Alexanderplatz | (final film role) |
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