Erich Ponto

Erich Ponto was a distinguished German actor whose career spanned nearly five decades, encompassing both stage and screen. Born Erich Johannes Bruno Ponto on 14 December 1884 in the Free City of Lübeck, he was the son of a textile merchant and later moved with his family to Hamburg‑Eimsbüttel where he attended the gymnasium in Altona. After completing his Abitur, he began studying pharmacy at the University of Munich, attending lectures by the Nobel‑winning physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, but his passion for the performing arts soon prevailed, leading him to take acting lessons and eventually abandon pharmacy for the stage. He made his debut at the Stadttheater Passau in 1908 and soon secured engagements in Nordhausen, Reichenberg (Liberec) and Düsseldorf before joining the Hoftheater Dresden ensemble in 1914, a tenure that lasted until 1947 and included a season as intendant in 1946/47. Ponto’s most celebrated theatrical role was J.J. Peachum in the original 1928 production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, and he later garnered recognition as a Staatsschauspieler under the Nazi regime in 1938, the highest honor for an actor at that time. After the advent of sound cinema, he transitioned to film, often portraying eccentric or villainous characters; notable performances include Mayer Amschel Rothschild in the anti‑semitic The Rothschilds (1940) and the pedantic professor in Die Feuerzangenbowle (1944). International audiences may remember him as the sinister Dr. Winkel in Carol Reed’s classic The Third Man (1949), and his post‑war work earned him the German Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for Himmel ohne Sterne (1955). In addition to acting, he was a skilled voice‑over artist, dubbing Lionel Barrymore, Charles Laughton and Charley Grapewin into German, and he mentored future stars such as Gert Fröbe. Married to Tony Kresse in 1916, he fathered two children, Eva Doering and Klaus Ponto, and remained active in his profession until shortly before his death from cancer on 14 February 1957 in Stuttgart, leaving a legacy as one of Germany’s most versatile performers.