Emil Jannings

The collection holdings came into the Deutsche Kinemathek in several consignments starting in 1984, initiated by the actor’s nephew, the audio play director Jörg Jannings. An absolute crown jewel among the inventory is the first Oscar (Academy Award) ever awarded to an actor, which Emil Jannings received in 1929. It has been on view in its own display case since the opening of the Museum für Film und Fernsehen in 2000. The estate comprises around 800 photos and numerous press clippings with handwritten notes and German translations of American press texts about Jannings’ acting skills. An exchange of letters between Jannings and family members can be found. In addition, there is correspondence with Carl Zuckmayer, Hans Fallada and Kurt Tucholsky, who gave Emil Jannings and his fourth wife Gussy Holl a guestbook in 1923. It was acquired by the Förderkreis des Museums für Film und Fernsehen (the museum’s support association) in 2007. Jannings took the book with him from Berlin to Rome during the shoot of the monumental film ‘Quo Vadis’, then to Hollywood and back to Europe. The captains of the steamships on which Jannings sailed across the Atlantic immortalized themselves in its pages, as did numerous Hollywood actors, who in turn gave Emil Jannings’ daughter Ruth Maria (b. 1920) signed studio photographs. Sixty of these large-format autographs can be found in Jannings’ estate. The collection also includes a death mask produced by Austrian sculptor Hans Pacher. (Text: Vera Thomas)