Biography

Character actor of German silent films, on stage from 1905. Gave some of his best performances under the direction of F. W. Murnau. Because of his Jewish background, the Nazis excluded him from the Reichstheaterkammer in 1938 and had him incarcerated in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. Fürth survived the ordeal but died shortly after the end of the war in Vienna.

When he moved to Germany in 1920 he not only experienced the height of his theater career but also became a demanded movie actor. During his career he appeared in some of the most important silent movies and he had partners of worldwide renown at his side.

Initially he studied law before taking stage engagements and performing in roles created by Henrik Ibsen.

He went to Austria in 1905 where he got an engagement at the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna.

Fürth would transition to the era of sound film with ease, and would become a notable character actor throughout the late 1920s and 1930s, appearing in such films as Georg Wilhelm Pabst's drama Diary of a Lost Girl opposite American actress Louise Brooks and Karel Lamac's 1931 film adaptation of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus, opposite Czech actress Anny Ondra.