Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Walter Rilla(1894-1980)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Walter Rilla
A scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of a famed gunfighter, and the stage for confrontation is set when the gunman becomes unhinged and overruns the boy's town through violence and corruption.
Play trailer2:43
Day of Anger (1967)
5 Videos
14 Photos
The tall, expressively-browed, rather stern-looking character actor Walter Rilla was educated at the University of Koenigsberg and first worked as a newspaper journalist, drama critic and story editor for the Berliner Theater. He acted on stage from 1921, making his screen debut the following year. He quickly established himself as a leading player in German and French films, often playing aristocratic roles, which demanded a certain amount of gravitas. Involved with leftist organisations and married to a Jewish wife, Rilla was inevitably forced to flee Nazi Germany for England in 1933.

His breakthrough role in British films came courtesy of Alexander Korda, who was intent on casting him as Merle Oberon's brother Armand in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). This was followed by roles as Prince Ernest in Herbert Wilcox's period drama Victoria the Great (1937), and as the womanizing banker Roudine in False Rapture (1939). Thereafter came a succession of villainous roles. Though a British citizen from 1940, Rilla was unable to escape typecasting -- much like his compatriots Conrad Veidt and Peter van Eyck -- and his career was henceforth delineated by playing racketeers (Golden Salamander (1950)), Nazi propagandists (The Lisbon Story (1946)) and evil Eastern European potentates (The Great Manhunt (1950)).

In addition to acting, Rilla sidelined as author of several BBC radio shows. Following his return to Germany in 1957, he began a new career behind the camera as writer/director of television plays. He also continued to act in just about anything, from prestige films (like Confessions of Felix Krull (1957) and Scampolo (1958)) to spaghetti westerns (Day of Anger (1967)); from Edgar Wallace potboilers (The Forger of London (1961)) to returning to his villainous ways as the evil genius Dr. Mabuse in several instalments of the popular franchise. In 1966, Rilla was awarded the prestigious Filmband in Gold for his service to the German film industry.
BornAugust 22, 1894
DiedNovember 21, 1980(86)
BornAugust 22, 1894
DiedNovember 21, 1980(86)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos14

Marianne Hoppe, Erik Ode, and Walter Rilla in Der Kommissar (1969)
Walter Rilla in The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
Richard Widmark, Ady Berber, Walter Rilla, and Sonja Ziemann in The Secret Ways (1961)
John Bailey, Eva Bartok, George Coulouris, Walter Rilla, and Richard Todd in The Assassin (1952)
Walter Rilla in The Green Buddha (1954)
Walter Rilla
Walter Rilla
Walter Rilla
Elisabeth Bergner, Paul Czinner, Walter Rilla, and Conrad Veidt in The Violinist of Florence (1926)
C.V. France, Anna Neagle, Walter Rilla, Greta Schröder, and Anton Walbrook in Victoria the Great (1937)
Mary Germaine, Wayne Morris, and Walter Rilla in The Green Buddha (1954)
Dieter Borsche, Wolfgang Lukschy, Walter Rilla, and Peter van Eyck in Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard (1963)

Known for

Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
7.3
  • Armand St. Just
  • 1934
The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
The Face of Fu Manchu
5.8
  • Muller
  • 1965
Golden Salamander (1950)
Golden Salamander
6.3
  • Serafis
  • 1950
Behold the Man!
  • Director
  • 1951

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Großstadt-Minaturen: Geschichten zwischen Kiez und Ku'damm
  • Heinrich Heine (1978)
    Heinrich Heine
  • Unordnung und frühes Leid (1977)
    Unordnung und frühes Leid
  • Christine Böhm in Waffen für Amerika (1976)
    Waffen für Amerika
  • Eurogang (1975)
    Eurogang
  • König Heinrich IV.
  • Les faucheurs de marguerites (1974)
    Les faucheurs de marguerites
  • Marianik Revillon in L'étang de la Breure (1973)
    L'étang de la Breure
  • The Legend of Doom House (1971)
    The Legend of Doom House
  • Paul Temple (1969)
    Paul Temple
  • Auf neutralem Boden
  • Soledad Miranda and Fred Williams in The Devil Came from Akasava (1971)
    The Devil Came from Akasava
  • Curd Jürgens and Ruth-Maria Kubitschek in Millionen nach Maß (1970)
    Millionen nach Maß
  • Pepe, der Paukerschreck - Die Lümmel von der ersten Bank, III. Teil (1969)
    Pepe, der Paukerschreck - Die Lümmel von der ersten Bank, III. Teil
  • Uschi Obermaier in Detektive (1969)
    Detektive

Director

  • Das Vermächtnis
  • Der Tod des Sokrates
  • Der Heldenmantel
  • Die venezianische Tür
  • Platons Gastmahl
  • Ein Abschiedsgeschenk
  • Columbus - Bericht und Bildnis
  • Die reinsten Engel
  • Der Mann nebenan
  • Dumala
  • Überfahrt
  • Das lange Weihnachtsmahl
  • Kümmert euch nicht um Sokrates - Ein Abend mit dem 'Gorgias' des Platon
  • Siegfrieds Tod
  • Das Rendezvous von Senlis

Writer

  • Die reinsten Engel
  • Der Mann nebenan
  • Das lange Weihnachtsmahl
  • Das Genie und die Göttin
  • Behold the Man!

Videos5

Trailer
Trailer 2:43
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:34
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:17
Official Trailer
Victim Five
Trailer 1:29
Victim Five
Abdul the Damned
Trailer 1:13
Abdul the Damned

Personal details

Edit
    • August 22, 1894
    • Neunkirchen, Germany
    • November 21, 1980
    • Rosenheim, Bavaria, West Germany(undisclosed)
    • Alix du Frênes195? - November 21, 1980 (his death)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    German actor who began in silents who took his family and fled the Nazi regime in the late 30s, later capitalizing on vile, foreign-tongued villains in British espionage.

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.