Werner Kraus
Screenwriter Hans Janowitz is alleged to have written the part of Dr. Caligari specifically for Werner Kraus, who had already carved out a brilliant career on German theater stage; at the time he had been called one of the greatest living actors in the world. He had also acted in many Expressionist plays, an experience which gave him the insight necessary to suggest cosmetic changes in the appearance of his character which significantly enhanced the sinister aspects of Caligari. Unlike so many of his fellow creative artists who thrived in German theater and cinema prior to the rise of Hitler, Kraus did not find fame on Broadway or in Hollywood since he never self-exile necessary. Unapologetically anti-Semitic, Kraus was not just an active supporter of the Nazi Party, but enjoyed even greater success under its regime. One of the casualties of Germany’s defeat in World War II was Kraus’ acting career. Not only did he lose his status as an artist, he also lost his Austrian citizenship and was forced to undergo a de-Nazification program.
Conrad Veidt
Whereas Werner Kraus was sleepwalking his way through the crushing realities of supporting the doomed Nazi Party, the actor who played the somnambulistic Cesare lived a life following Caligari that turned out quite differently. The fascist storm front that would eventually succeed only in obliterating the foundation of Germany’s stage and film industry sent Conrad Veidt first to the British film industry and thence to Hollywood. Whereas Kraus would die in relative obscurity, Veidt’s legacy includes one of the most famous Hollywood films as well as a comic book adaptation. American audiences are likely most familiar with the actor as the Nazi who gets shot by Humphrey Bogart while trying to make a phone call at the end of Casablanca. Comic book fans may unknowingly recognize Veidt every time they open a Batman comic featuring a villain that bears a striking resemblance to a character the actor played in the film The Man Who Laughs—a villain known only as The Joker.
Lili Dagover
Dagover’s film career began in 1919 and her last appearance on screen was in 1979. Like Kraus, Dagover stayed in Germany throughout the Nazi years where she was such a favorite of Adolf Hitler that she was a dinner guest of the Fuhrer many times. Unlike her co-star, however, she was not an overt supporter of the fascist ideology and the result was, as indicated, a career that was seamlessly maintained from the Germany of the Weimar Republic through the rise and fall of the Third Reich and into the age of the Berlin Wall.
Fritz Feher
The character of Francis is the great manipulator of the narrative being told in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Francis winds up becoming more than he seems, and we can even understand him as the ruling influence on how the film is interpreted. Feher himself turned to directing after appearing in Caligari. In addition to his success as an actor and director, Feher also wrote several screenplays and even composed the musical score for two of the films he directed.
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari marked one of the first of many German film appearances by Twardowski, but his career would include roughly as many appearances in Hollywood movies. A homosexual, Twardowski fled Nazi Germany to Hollywood, where he was making American movies by 1932. He would re-team with co-star Veidt in a fashion on the set of Casablanca as the German officer with designs on Yvonne.
Rudolf Lettinger
Lettinger had already appeared in twenty films by the time he was cast as Dr. Olsen. The rise of the Adolf Hitler had little impact upon his later career as he made his last appearance on screen in 1931 before dying in 1937.
