Biography

Herman Bing was born on March 30, 1889 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was an actor and assistant director, known for The Great Waltz (1938), Sweethearts (1938) and Redheads on Parade (1935). He was married to Carla Lichtenstein. He died on January 9, 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Bing was sort of a pre-S.Z. Sakall type of character actor, much in demand during the 1930s but his "can't quite pin down the accent" shtick fell out of favor with producers and directors at the end of the decade. He became increasingly depressed in the mid-1940s, as he was unable to secure work in Hollywood, and committed suicide in 1947 by self-inflicted gunshot.

Came to Hollywood from Germany as assistant to F.W. Murnau and worked on the script and as an assistant director on Murnau's 1927 classic Sunrise (1927). After working in production with John Ford and Frank Borzage, he began his career as a comic actor.

Frankfurt-born character actor in 30's and 40's Hollywood known for burlesquing his thick Yiddish-inflected Germanic accent, distinct from those of famed German-speaking contemporaries with Middle European influences such as the Viennese-born Walter Slezak, Trieste born Paul Henreid, and the difficult to pin down accents of Budapest-born C.Z. Sakall and Paul Lukas.

He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. His urn was subsequently buried in a traditional grave.