Oskar Werner

In 1944, Werner married actress Elisabeth Kallina, who was of half Jewish descent. The couple had a daughter, Eleanore. They divorced in 1952 but remained friends.

Next in 1954, he married Anne Power, the biological daughter of French actress Annabella and adopted daughter of Tyrone Power. The couple divorced in 1968.

He was in a relationship with Diana Markey, daughter of American actress Joan Barnett, and had a son named Felix Werner with her

Oskar Werner was born on 16 November, 1922 in Vienna. His father, an insurance clerk, left the family when Oskar was just six-year-old. Subsequently, he was brought up by his mother, who supported him by working in a hat factory.

Young Oskar spent a lot of time with his grandmother, who told him stories about Burgtheater. Thus he grew an early interest in acting, which intensified as he started taking part in school plays. By the time he was eleven, he decided to become an actor.

In 1939, one of his uncles managed to find him small ‘walk-on’ roles in a few German and Austrian war-time movies like ‘Hotel Sacher’, where he played the lift boy and ‘Leinen aus Irland’, where he was a hotel pageboy. In addition, he also tried radio acting.

When Oskar was eighteen he joined Burgtheater and made his debut on the 11th of October, 1941 under the stage name of Oskar Werner. Within a short period, he made his mark, playing juvenile/romantic roles.

In December 1941, he was drafted into Deutsche Wehrmacht. Since he was a pacifist and anti Nazi, he did not want to take part in direct combat. So he pretended to be stupid, falling off from the horses and making deliberate mistakes in reading the range finders on canons.

Consequently, he was sent back to Vienna, where he spent the war years peeling vegetables and cleaning latrines. Fortunately, he also received permission to continue acting at Burgtheater.

Some time now he married a half Jewish lady and had a daughter with her. On December 8, 1944, he deserted his regiment and with his family hid in a shack in the Vienna Woods.

As the Russian army began to advance towards Vienna, Werner was forced to run once more. Shortly the family found themselves in the middle of Werner’s old regiment. Luckily, there was confusion all around and they used the chaos to slip beyond the line; but had to struggle hard to sustain.

Werner is best remembered for his portrayal of the ship’s doctor in ‘Ship of Fools’ (1965). The romance between his character and a countess from Cuba, who is being sent to prison for drug addiction, has been portrayed with almost unbearable but restrained intensity.

His portrayal of Hamlet in the Shakespearean play of the same name is also another of his major works. It has been described as a “profound spiritual experience” by many well-known critics. It was also said that in this play Werner “does not perform Hamlet. He IS “Hamlet!”