 emil jannings (23 july 1884 â 2 january 1950) was a swiss-born german/austrian actor. he was the first person to be presented with an oscar when he was honored with the first academy award for best actor, at the 1929 ceremony. best known for his collaborations with f. w. murnau and josef von sternberg (including the blue angel (1930), with marlene dietrich), jannings later starred in a number of nazi propaganda films. ==early life== he was christened as  emil jannings in rorschach, switzerland, the son of a russian-german mother and an american father.roman rocek: die neun leben des alexander lernet-holenia. eine biographie. bÃ¶hlau, wien u.a. 1997; isbn 3-205-98713-6. s. 186frank noack: "jannings. der erste deutsche weltstar". collection rolf heyne, mÃ¼nchen 2012 while he was still young the family moved to gÃ¶rlitz in germany and in the town state theatre jannings started his stage career. he worked in bremen and leipzig before joining the max reinhardt theatre company in berlin. ==career== left|thumb|jannings as the devil in faust jannings was a theater actor who went into films. he starred in the 1922 film version of othello and in f. w. murnau's the last laugh (der letzte mann, 1924), as a proud but aged hotel doorman who is demoted to a restroom attendant. jannings worked with murnau on two other films, playing the title character in herr tartÃ¼ff (1925) and mephistopheles in faust (1926). jannings eventually started a career in hollywood. in 1929 he won the first best actor oscar for his work in two films: the way of all flesh (now lost), and josef von sternberg's the last command. his hollywood career came to an end with the advent of talkies as his thick german accent was difficult to understand. his dialogue was initially dubbed by another actor in the part-talkie the patriot (1928), although jannings' own voice was restored after he objected. returning to europe, he starred opposite marlene dietrich in the 1930 film the blue angel, which was filmed simultaneously in english w
1884_births 1950_deaths 20th-century_German_male_actors Best_Actor_Academy_Award_winners Cancer_deaths_in_Austria Deaths_from_liver_cancer German_male_film_actors German_male_silent_film_actors German_people_of_American_descent German_people_of_Russian_descent Naturalised_citizens_of_Austria Nazi_propagandists Volpi_Cup_winners