Walter Slezak

Walter Slezak was an Austrian-born actor whose career spanned stage, film, radio, and television from 1922 to 1976. Born in Vienna, he was the son of opera tenor Leo Slezak and Elisabeth "Elsa" Wertheim, and the brother of actress Margarete Slezak. Before entering the entertainment industry, Slezak studied medicine and worked as a bank teller. His screen debut came in 1922 in the Austrian film Sodom und Gomorrah, a role he took at the urging of his friend Michael Curtiz, who directed the picture. During his youth, while still slim, he was cast as a leading man in silent films.

Slezak emigrated to the United States in 1930 and made his Broadway debut in 1931, appearing in the musical Meet My Sister. His stage career on Broadway extended through 1975 and encompassed productions including the musical May Wine, the comedy My 3 Angels, The Gazebo, and A Gala Tribute to Joshua Logan. His most celebrated Broadway role came in the musical Fanny, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1955. He also starred in the comedy The Gazebo during his long tenure on the New York stage.

In Hollywood, Slezak appeared in more than 100 films. His first American film was Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942), opposite Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant. He became closely associated with wily, loquacious characters — often philosophical figures with an appetite for food, drink, and fine living. Among his most notable film performances was the role of a crafty villain in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944), a wandering gypsy in The Inspector General (1949), and a charming, two-timing major domo in Come September (1961). He also distinguished himself in film noir, playing shrewd and unscrupulous private investigators in Cornered (1945) and Born to Kill (1947). Additional film credits include The Princess and the Pirate (1944), The Spanish Main (1945), Sinbad the Sailor (1947), Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950), People Will Talk (1951), and Call Me Madam (1953). Later British film appearances included Wonderful Life (1964) and Black Beauty (1971).

Slezak was also active in radio, appearing on programs including Lux Radio Theater, Columbia Workshop, The Pepsodent Show, and The Charlie McCarthy Show. His television work included appearances on The Loretta Young Show, This Is Show Business, Playhouse 90, and Studio One. In 1960, he starred in an unsold television pilot, Slezak and Son, which aired as an episode of the anthology series New Comedy Showcase. He later appeared as The Clock King in two episodes of the television series Batman in 1966. In 1974, he appeared on the soap opera One Life to Live as Lazlo Braedecker, the godfather of the character Victoria Lord — a role played by his daughter Erika Slezak, who portrayed Victoria Lord from 1971 until the series ended in 2012 and who earned Emmy recognition for the performance.

Beyond film and television, Slezak performed in opera productions. In 1959 and 1960, he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in Johann Strauss's operetta Der Zigeunerbaron, and in the 1970s he took on the non-singing role of Frosch, the jailer, in the San Francisco Opera's production of Strauss's Die Fledermaus. He published his autobiography, What Time's the Next Swan?, in 1962. The title references a story from his father's career: during a performance of Lohengrin, a stagehand removed the swan boat before the elder Slezak could board it, prompting him to ask the audience what time the next swan would arrive.

On October 10, 1943, Slezak married Johanna "Kaasi" Van Rijn. The couple had three children: Ingrid, Erika, and Leo. Slezak had been close friends in Vienna in the 1930s with heiress Maria Altmann and her family. He died on April 21, 1983, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, reportedly despondent over deteriorating health that included heart trouble, a recent prostate operation, and a shoulder injury requiring ongoing treatment. He was buried in his parents' grave at the cemetery of St. Laurentius Church in Egern, Bavaria.