Gerd Briese
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4844/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.
German actor and writer Gerd Briese (1897-1957) experienced a brief film career in the silent cinema of the 1920s.
Gerd Briese was born in Thorn, West Prussia (now Torun, Poland) in 1897. He started acting, as many did, on the stage. He made his film debut featuring in Rosenmontag/Rose Monday (1924, Rudolf Meinert). After that, he would play mostly supporting characters in many popular German films such as Reveille, das grosse Wecken/Reveille (1925, Fritz Kaufmann) with Werner Krauss, which Briese also co-wrote, and Funkzauber/Radio Charm (1927, Richard Oswald) starring Werner Krauss and Fern Andra. As a writer he also worked on Die vom Niederrhein (1925, Rudolf Walther-Fein, Rudolf Dworsky), Die vom Niederrhein, 2. Teil (1925, Rudolf Walther-Fein) and Das Gasthaus zur Ehe (1926, Georg Jacoby). In the next years he appeared in well-known films like U 9 Weddigen/U-boat 9 (1927, Heinz Paul), Lützows wilde verwegene Jagd (1927, Richard Oswald), Walpurgisnacht (1927, James Bauer) and Meineid/Perjury (1929, Georg Jacoby) featuring La Jana. In 1928, Briese would play a gay man in director William Dieterle’s Geschlecht in Fesseln: die Sexualnot der Gefangenen/Sex in Chains (1928, Wilhelm Dieterle aka William Dieterle) starring Dieterle himself. It’s the story of a young man who is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison, where he forms a close relationship with his cellmate.
After the introduction of the sound film Gerd Briese made only one talkie, Der Sittenrichter/The Customs Judge (1929, Carl Heinz Wolff). After that he returned to the theater. From 1948 to 1954 he was the director of the Oldenburgischen Staatstheaters. His only film after the war was the thriller Es geschah am 20. Juli/It Happened on the 20th of July (1955, G. W. Pabst), about the plot to assassinate Hitler. Gerd Briese then retired and died in 1957, in Berlin.
Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Franz (Queer Silents), and IMDb.
Gerd Briese
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4844/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.
German actor and writer Gerd Briese (1897-1957) experienced a brief film career in the silent cinema of the 1920s.
Gerd Briese was born in Thorn, West Prussia (now Torun, Poland) in 1897. He started acting, as many did, on the stage. He made his film debut featuring in Rosenmontag/Rose Monday (1924, Rudolf Meinert). After that, he would play mostly supporting characters in many popular German films such as Reveille, das grosse Wecken/Reveille (1925, Fritz Kaufmann) with Werner Krauss, which Briese also co-wrote, and Funkzauber/Radio Charm (1927, Richard Oswald) starring Werner Krauss and Fern Andra. As a writer he also worked on Die vom Niederrhein (1925, Rudolf Walther-Fein, Rudolf Dworsky), Die vom Niederrhein, 2. Teil (1925, Rudolf Walther-Fein) and Das Gasthaus zur Ehe (1926, Georg Jacoby). In the next years he appeared in well-known films like U 9 Weddigen/U-boat 9 (1927, Heinz Paul), Lützows wilde verwegene Jagd (1927, Richard Oswald), Walpurgisnacht (1927, James Bauer) and Meineid/Perjury (1929, Georg Jacoby) featuring La Jana. In 1928, Briese would play a gay man in director William Dieterle’s Geschlecht in Fesseln: die Sexualnot der Gefangenen/Sex in Chains (1928, Wilhelm Dieterle aka William Dieterle) starring Dieterle himself. It’s the story of a young man who is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison, where he forms a close relationship with his cellmate.
After the introduction of the sound film Gerd Briese made only one talkie, Der Sittenrichter/The Customs Judge (1929, Carl Heinz Wolff). After that he returned to the theater. From 1948 to 1954 he was the director of the Oldenburgischen Staatstheaters. His only film after the war was the thriller Es geschah am 20. Juli/It Happened on the 20th of July (1955, G. W. Pabst), about the plot to assassinate Hitler. Gerd Briese then retired and died in 1957, in Berlin.
Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Franz (Queer Silents), and IMDb.