Born November 13, 1922 in Vienna, Austria, Oskar Josef Bschließmayer, known professionally as Oskar Werner, was brought up by his grandmother after the divorce of his parents at an early age. An uncle got him several uncredited roles in films as a teenager.
Regaled by his grandmother’s stories about the Austrian State Theater, he made his debut there at the age of 18. He made his stage debut in October 1941 but was drafted into the Army two months later. A pacificist and staunch opponent of National Socialism, he acted so poorly in his training that he was assigned to peeling potatoes and cleaning latrines instead of to the Eastern Front. In 1944, he secretly married actress Elisabeth Kallina who was half Jewish. They had a daughter and in December 1944 fled with their daughter to the Vienna woods where they hid until the end of the war.
After the war, Werner returned to the State Theater where he excelled in adaptations of such plays as Julius Caesar and I Remember Mama. He starred in several Austrian films beginning in 1948 before moving to London in 1950. He then went to Hollywood where he won acclaim for his performance in the 1951 Best Picture Oscar nominee, Decision Before Dawn. He was divorced from Kallina in 1952. He married second wife, Anne Power, the adopted daughter of Tyrone Power, in 1954.
Werner’s film career remained sporadic until he re-emerged in Francois Truffaut’s international success, Jules and Jim, in 1962. He achieved the height of his popularity with his return to English language films just three years later.
He won the Best Actor award of the New York Film Critics for 1965’s Ship of Fools for which he later received Golden Globe, Oscar, and BAFTA nominations. He won that year’s Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold in which he stood out in a cast led by Richard Burton and Claire Bloom.
Werner reteamed with Francois Truffaut for 1966’s Fahrenheit 451 opposite Julie Christie. That same year he had a son with American model Diane Anderson while still married to Power. He and Power would divorce in 1968.
In 1968, Werner starred opposite Barbara Ferris in Interlude, a remake of the 1957 film of the same name with June Allyson and Rossano Brazzi which was itself a remake of 1939’s When Tomorrow Comes with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. That same year he co-starred with Anthony Quinn and Laurence Olivier in The Shoes of the Fisherman.
Werner starred in an acclaimed 1975 episode of TV’s Columbo and received a third Golden Globe nomination for his supporting role in his last film, 1976’s Voyage of the Damned.
Back on stage for the remainder of his career, Oscar Werner died of a heart attack on October 23, 1984 two days after the death of Francois Truffaut who directed him in two of his most famous roles. He was 61. Truffaut was 52.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
JULES AND JIM (1962), directed by Francois Truffaut
Based on Henri-Pierre Roché’s novel, this internationally acclaimed film about an impulsive woman who enters into a decades long menage-a-trois with two men because she can’t decide between them, advanced the careers of Jeanne Moreau and Werner as Catherine and Jules, with newcomer Henri Sierre cast as Jim because of his resemblance to Roché who wrote the character based on his younger self from 1912-1929. The author died in 1959 at 79 to Truffaut’s regret as he had wanted to know what he would have thought of his film. Truffaut directed Werner four years later in 1966’s Fahertheit 451 and died two days before him in 1984.
SHIP OF FOOLS (1965), directed by Stanley Kramer
The film version of Katherine Ann Porter’s novel about a doomed vessel bound for pre-WW II Germany was nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture and won 2 for Black-and-White Cinematography and Art Direction. Boasting an all-star cast led by Vivien Leigh in her last film, Simone Signoret, José Ferrer, and Lee Marvin, it was fifth billed Werner who was nominated for Best Actor. Signoret was nominated for Best Actress, and Michael Dunn for Best Supporting Actor in a cast that also included Elizabeth Ashley, George Segal, Heinz Ruhmann, and Lilia Skala. It would be Leigh’s last film.
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965), directed by Martin Ritt
Filmed just two years after John le Carré’s novel caused a literary sensation, this classic spy film was nominated for 6 BAFTAs, winning 4, including one for star Richard Burton. Werner, who won a Golden Globe for his supporting performance, had to settle for just a nod from BAFTA. The film fared less well at the Oscars where it was nominated for just 2 for Best Actor (Burton) and Black-and-White Art Direction. Claire Bloom had one of her best roles opposite Burton, while the superb supporting cast, in addition to Werner, included Sam Wanamaker, George Voskovec, Rupert Davies, Cyril Cusack, Robert Hordern, Robert Hardy, and Bernard Lee.
THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN (1968), directed by Michael Anderson
The film version of Morris West’s prophetic novel about a Pope from the Soviet bloc started out well in award season winning Best Picture at the National Board of Review and a Golden Globe nod for Best Picture but received just 2 Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Score. Anthony Quinn gave one of his finest performances in the lead ably assisted by Laurence Olivier as his Soviet nemeses and Werner as a savvy Jesuit priest. The supporting cast included David Janssen as a reporter, Vittorio De Sica and Leo McKern as Cardinals and John Gielgud as Quinn’s predecessor as Pope.
VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED (1976), directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Nominated for 6 Golden Globes including Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Werner), and two Supporting Actresses (Lee Grant, Kathrine Ross), Ross was the film’s only winner. It was then nominated for 3 Oscars for Grant, along with Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Score. About a ship of Jewish refugees from Germany in 1939 that no one wanted, Werner was a professor this time, not a doctor as he had been in the similarly themed Ship of Fools. Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, Wendy Hiller, Julie Harris, Maria Schell, Orson Welles, James Mason, Jonathan Pryce, Malcolm McDowall, José Ferrer, and Ben Gazzara were also in the cast.
OSKAR WERNER AND OSCAR
Ship of Fools (1965) –nominated Best Actor
