Harry Baur was a French actor. Initially a stage actor, he was described by film academic Ginette Vincendeau as "a corpulent man with a resonant voice, his stagey performance style ranged from the hammy ... to the soberly moving". Baur appeared in about 80 films between 1909 and 1942. He gave an acclaimed performance as the composer Ludwig van Beethoven in the biopic Beethoven's Great Love, directed by Abel Gance, and as Jean Valjean in Raymond Bernard's version of Les Mis�rables. He also acted in Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset's silent film, Beethoven, and in La voyante, Sarah Bernhardt's last film. In 1942, while in Berlin to stat in his last film "Symphone eines Lebens", Baur's Jewish wife was arrested by the gestapo and charged with espionage. His effort to secure her release led to his own arrest and torture, being falsely labelled as a Jew. He was released in April 1943, but died in Paris shortly after in mysterious circumstances. Academy Award-winning American actor Rod Steiger cited Baur as one of his favorite actors who had exerted a major influence on his craft and career. [More at Wikipedia]

April 12th, 1880 in Paris  /  Died:   Apr 8th, 1943