Biography

Was wounded while serving with a German artillery unit in Serbia during the first world war (1914-1918).

Tall, athletic, dark-eyed star of 1930's and 40's German Ufa films, the son of a goldsmith. His first major stage role was in 1910. On screen only from 1934, invariably in masculine or romantic roles, with a noted penchant for portraying straight-backed cavalry officers, cultured governors, aristocratic landowners, industrialists and charming bon vivants. His post-war career was harmed by having featured in several Nazi propaganda films. He was banned from acting in films until 1947. From 1959, he was a regular member of the ensemble of the Schauspielhaus Zurich.

From the 60's he normally worked for the television, with few exceptions, and of course at the theater.

Reichspropagandaminister Joseph Goebbels named Birgel Staatsschauspieler or roughly Actor of the State, the highest honor Germany had for actors at the time.

After a theater performance in 1907 he was seized by the acting virus and attended an acting school. He got his first theater engagement at the Stadttheater Bonn in 1913. His career was interrupted with his entry to the army during World War I. After the war he continued his theater career and became a star on the Mannheimer stage.