A Viennese native from a Jewish theatrical family, he began his artistic education under Max Reinhardt in Berlin before joining his father's U.S. tour and moving to America in 1920, where he appeared on Broadway, notably in Peer Gynt and the first U.S. staging of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom.
Transitioning to film, he gained early notice as the Chevalier de Vaudrey in D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the S…
