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.
Life 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 (Zurich 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.
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 Zurich, where he was also a part-time administrator. That troupe performed throughout the German-speaking countries and in the United States.
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 theatre company Schauspieltruppe Zürich that they had founded. They had three sons, two of whom—Benedict Freitag and Oliver Tobias—became actors.
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 (The Alexanderplatz Lovers), directed by .
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.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1941 Love is Duty Free Swiss customs officer 1941 Bieder der Flieger Oskar Bider 1943 Wilder Urlaub Sergeant Epper 1948 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 (Schicksal am Matterhorn) Beni Kronig – mountain guide 1957 The Big Chance Chaplain Sommer 1958 Resurrection Simonson 1959 Engineer Gisler 1961 William Tell William Tell 1961 The Last Chapter Lawyer Robertsen 1962 The Longest Day Meyer's Aide Uncredited1963 The Great Escape Captain Posen 1969 Caesar TV film1976 Benito 1976 Riedland 1981 Berlin Tunnel 21 Dr. Lentz 1984 TV film1985 Wild Geese II Stroebling 1985 A Crime of Honour A Song for Europe Moser TV film2001 Max (final film role)
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