Avuncular German character actor, the son of a teacher and originally trained as a textile merchant. Prolific on stage (from 1903) and screen (from 1923), invariably in sympathetic, well-meaning roles (uncles, fathers, jovial police officers, diplomats and academics). Arguably, his most popular role was that of Gymnasialdirektor Knauer, nicknamed "Zeus", in the classic classroom farce
The Punch Bowl (1944). He later appeared in several post-war Defa productions in East Germany.