Trained under Eduard von Winterstein and Hermann Vallentin and on stage as an actor from 1919. Played romantic leading roles in films of the 1920's, often opposite Lillian Harvey. Found roles hard to come by during the national socialist era, ostensibly for reasons 'pertaining to race'. Moved to Austria, where he operated a bar called 'Top Hat' (in deference to the 1935 Astaire/Rogers musical) and later became a tobacconist.