Fritz Reuter Leiber Sr. ( ; January 31, 1882 – October 14, 1949) 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.

Life Leiber was born in Chicago, the son of German emigrant parents Meta (Klett) and Albrecht Leiber. His father was from Baden-Baden and his mother was from Mecklenburg. Leiber was based in Chicago for most of his pre-Hollywood career. He married Virginia Bronson (1885–1970), who like him was a Shakespearean performer.

Career

Leiber and his wife spent much of their time touring in a Shakespearian acting company, known by the 1930s as Fritz Leiber & Co. Leiber made his film debut in 1916, playing Mercutio in the Francis X. Bushman version of Romeo and Juliet.

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.

Leiber thrived as a character actor in sound films, usually in historical roles. His piercing eyes and shock of white hair allowed him to convincingly play a variety of characters, including priests, professors, musical professors, and religious fanatics.

In the film Champagne Waltz (1937), 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). He played a dead chemist in the movie Angel on My Shoulder (1946). He performed briefly opposite Charles Chaplin as the priest who visits Monsieur Verdoux (1947) in his prison cell.

Leiber appeared together with his son Fritz Leiber, Jr. in the wedding-feast scene of Greta Garbo's film Camille (1936), in Warner Bros.' The Great Garrick (1937), and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) (in which Fritz, Jr. was uncredited).

Portrait collection Often during his career Leiber had a likeness made of himself in costume and make-up for the role he was then playing, varying the format and media to include oil painting, charcoal sketching; a sculpted bust, a clay bas-relief, and others. After the actor's death, the collection passed to his son, Fritz Leiber Jr., who used the experience of inheriting this surfeit as the basis of his 1963 story "237 Talking Statues, Etc." The two Fritz Leibers also physically resembled each other enough to give casual visitors the impression that the portraits were of Leiber Jr. himself.

Death Leiber died in Hollywood, from a heart attack at the age of 67.

Filmography

Romeo and Juliet (1916) .... Mercutio The Primitive Call (1917) .... Brain Elkhorn Cleopatra (1917) .... Caesar If I Were King (1920) .... Louis XI The Song of the Soul (1920) .... Jerry Wendover The Queen of Sheba (1921) .... King Solomon A Tale of Two Cities (1935) .... Gaspard The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) .... Dr. Charbonnet Under Two Flags (1936) .... French Governor Hearts in Bondage (1936) .... Capt. John Ericsson Down to the Sea (1936) .... Gregory Pappas Sins of Man (1936) .... Father Prior Anthony Adverse (1936) .... Ouvrard Champagne Waltz (1937) .... Franz Strauss Under Southern Stars (1937, Short) .... Stonewall Jackson The Prince and the Pauper (1937) .... Father Andrew The Great Garrick (1937) .... Horatio The Jury's Secret (1938) .... John Morrow Flight into Nowhere (1938) .... Ti-Ana Gateway (1938) .... Dr. Weilander They Made Her a Spy (1939) .... Dr. Krull Nurse Edith Cavell (1939) .... Sadi Kirschen Pack Up Your Troubles (1939) .... Pierre Ferrand The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) .... Old Nobleman The Way of All Flesh (1940) .... Max The Sea Hawk (1940) .... Inquisitor All This, and Heaven Too (1940) .... Abbe Gallard Lady with Red Hair (1940) .... Mr. Foster Aloma of the South Seas (1941) .... High Priest Crossroads (1942) .... Foreign Minister Deval (uncredited) First Comes Courage (1943) .... Dr. Aanrud Salute to the Marines (1943) .... Mr. Agno (uncredited) Phantom of the Opera (1943) .... Franz Liszt The Desert Song (1943) .... Ben Sidi (uncredited) The Impostor (1944) .... Priest Cobra Woman (1944) .... Venreau (uncredited) Cry of the Werewolf (1944) .... Dr. Charles Morris Youth Runs Wild (1944) .... Judge (uncredited) The Cisco Kid Returns (The Daring Adventurer) (1945) .... The Padre Son of Lassie (1945) .... Village Padre (uncredited) The Spanish Main (1945) .... Bishop This Love of Ours (1945) .... Dr. Bailey Scarlet Street (1945) .... Evangelist (uncredited) A Scandal in Paris (1946) .... Painter Angel on My Shoulder (1946) .... Chemist Who Poisoned Wife (uncredited) Strange Journey (1946) .... Prof. Jenner Humoresque (1946) .... Hagerstrom Monsieur Verdoux (1947) .... Father Fareaux Bells of San Angelo (1947) .... Padre Dangerous Venture (1947) .... Xeoli The Web (1947) .... Leopold Kroner High Conquest (1947) .... Priest Adventures of Casanova (1948) .... D'Anneci To the Ends of the Earth (1948) .... Binda Sha Another Part of the Forest (1948) .... Colonel Isham Inner Sanctum (1948) .... Dr. Valonius Song of India (1949) .... Nanaram Bride of Vengeance (1949) .... Filippo Bagdad (1949) .... Emir Samson and Delilah (1949) .... Lord Sharif Devil's Doorway (1950) .... Mr. Poole (final film role)

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