Biography

Son of actor Carl Adolf Hubert De Wolff.

Distinguished German character actor, trained at the acting school of the Deutsche Theater in Berlin. On stage from 1913 and in films three years later, he came to specialise in comical characterisations, often as pedantic or fussy bureaucrats, absent-minded professors, obtuse police officers or inept businessmen.

The actor Ernst Waldow attended the acting school at the Königliches Schauspielhaus in Berlin, later he changed to the acting school at the Deutsches Theater. In the next years he acted on different stages in Germany, among others in Hamburg, Leipzig and Bremen.

He continued his career during wartime with productions like "Achtung! Feind hört mit!" (1940), "Dr. Crippen an Bord" (1942), "Maske in Blau" (1942), "Zirkus Renz" (1943) and "Der verzauberte Tag" (1944).

Only from the middle of the 30's the film business became a more important position in his career. He impersonated successfully bigger and smaller roles which often had a funny character.