Oskar Homolka(1898-1978)
- Actor
Because of his heavy generically "European" accent and Slavic-sounding
surname (not an uncommon one among Czechs or Slovaks), many people
assumed Oscar Homolka was Eastern European or Russian. In fact, he was
born in Vienna (then Austria-Hungary), the multicultural capital of a
large multi-ethnic empire at the time. It was there he began his
successful stage career, which eventually led him to Hollywood. Homolka
was one of the many Austrian and specifically Viennese actors (many of
them Jewish) who fled Europe for the U.S. with the rise to power of
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Although
often typecast in villainous roles - Communist spies, Soviet-bloc
military officers or scientists and the like - he was nominated for an
Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Chris in
I Remember Mama (1948).
