- Josef Eichheim was a German singer, comedian, stage and film actor. In 1905 he moved to Switzerland where he studied acting in Zurich; his training there was instrumental in helping him to find work.
In 1932 he played at the Munich Kammerspiele and Bayerischen Staatstheater, and in all appeared in about 67 movies including Rosen in Tirol (1940) ("The Bird Seller", "Le Marchand d'oiseaux") (1940) and Die falsche Braut (1945) ("The False Bride", "La Fausse fiancée") opposite Elfriede Datzig. During the war, Goebbels asked him to play in "Jud Süss"; however, Eichheim declined.
In 1945 he was imprisoned by the American Military Police in Internierungslager Emmering, near Fürstenfeldbruck. There he became ill and was moved to a hospital in Haar, near Munich, where he died November 14, 1945, still unaware of why he had been imprisoned.
- IMDb mini biography by: Rudi Polt / rudipolt@aol.com
- The actor Josef Eichheim took acting lessons in Zurich and made his actor debut at the Stadttheater Passau and in the following years he became soon established as a popular comedian.
- With the transition to the sound film era his point of view changed. As an articulate comedian, these development obliged him and he consequently concentrated to the film business nearly exclusive.
- Josef Eichheim founded the Isar-Film production in 1939 but the break out of World War II thwarted his plans.
- When Goebbels asked him to play the role of Jud Süss in the movie of the same name he refused successfully.
- At the beginning of the 30's he also took part in dramas and other very different roles as in "Peter Voss, der Millionendieb" (1932) and "Der Tunnel" (1933). After that they pinned him down to folk plays he enriched with his Bavarian humor.
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