Sig Ruman (born Siegfried Albon Rumann) (11 October 1884 – 14 February 1967) was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains.
Born in Hamburg, he studied electrical engineering before serving with the Imperial German army during the First World War. Subsequent to his migration to the United States in 1924, his acting career blossomed. Befriending playwright George S. Kaufman and theater critic Alexander Woollcott, h...
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Sig Ruman (born Siegfried Albon Rumann) (11 October 1884 – 14 February 1967) was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains.
Born in Hamburg, he studied electrical engineering before serving with the Imperial German army during the First World War. Subsequent to his migration to the United States in 1924, his acting career blossomed. Befriending playwright George S. Kaufman and theater critic Alexander Woollcott, he enjoyed success in many Broadway productions.
After the advent of talkies, Ruman became a favorite of the Marx Brothers, appearing in A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, and A Night in Casablanca. His German accent and large stature kept him busy during World War II, playing sinister Nazi characters in a series of wartime thrillers. During this period, he also appeared in several films by Ernst Lubitsch, a fellow German émigré. In 1941, he played the role of Professor Herman Von Reiter in Shining Victory, an adaptation of an A. J....
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