Otto Eduard Hasse (11 July 1903 – 12 September 1978) was a German film actor and director.
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Biography
Hasse was born to Wilhelm Gustav Eduard Hasse, a blacksmith, and Valeria Hasse in the village of Obersitzko, Province of Posen, German Empire and gained his first stage experiences in high school at Kolmar, together with his classmate Berta Drews. Hasse began to study law at the University of Berlin but abandoned this study after three semesters and changed over to Max Reinhardt's acting school at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, to receive an actor's education.
He first appeared at theatres in Thale, Breslau, and from 1930 till 1939 at the Kammerspiele in Munich, where he also worked as a stage director for the first time. In 1939, he moved to the German Theatre in Prague and shortened his name to O.E. instead of Otto Eduard.
In 1944, he was conscripted to the Luftwaffe and slightly wounded. After World War II Hasse became a famous German film actor, also internationally appearing in the Alfred Hitchcock film I Confess (1953) with Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter, and starring with Clark Gable and Lana Turner in Betrayed (1954).
In 1959, he was a member of the jury at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.
Hasse was the German dubbing voice of Charles Laughton, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. Hasse died in West Berlin and is buried at the Waldfriedhof Dahlem.
Personal life
Hasse was gay. His life partner for 30 years was entrepreneur Max Wiener, who worked as a manager at the Swiss media corporation Ringier and was an early gay rights and AIDS advocate.
In the spring of 1939, Hasse was sentenced to two months in prison in Munich for homosexuality in accordance with Section 175 of the German Criminal Code, which was considered a relatively lenient sentence during Nazi Germany. His integrity, his confession and his artistic achievements were seen as mitigating factors. After his two months in prison, he was able to continue his career in Prague. It is said that this was perhaps helped by the fact that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels enjoyed his performances.
Award
Since 1981, the Academy of Arts, Berlin, has awarded an O.E. Hasse Prize to benefit young actors.
Awards
1951: Berliner Kunstpreis
1955: Berliner Senatspreis
1961: member of Berlin Akademy of Arts
1964: Staatsschauspieler
1973: Ernst-Reuter-Plakette
1973: Großes Verdienstkreuz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
