{{Short description|German actor (1891–1950)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox person | image = Fotothek df roe-neg 0000135 002 Portrait Fritz Kampers'.jpg | name = Fritz Kampers | birth_date = {{birth date|1891|7|14|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Munich]], [[German Empire]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|9|1|1891|7|14|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Garmisch-Partenkirchen]], [[Bavaria]], [[West Germany]] | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1913–1950 }}
'''Fritz Kampers''' (14 July 1891 – 1 September 1950) was a German film actor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.filmportal.de/person/fritz-kampers_ae32f745d90546e3b5df08d6f1e311d0 |title=Fritz Kampers |work=Film Portal |access-date=15 March 2020}}</ref> He appeared in more than 250 films between 1913 and 1950.
==Early life== Fritz Kampers was the son of a Munich hotel owner, spent his early childhood in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and attended a boarding school in Weilheim in Upper [[Bavaria]]. After completing secondary school, he completed a commercial apprenticeship in a textile shop in Munich and at the same time took acting classes with Richard Stury, who presided as president of the Munich experimental stage. After appearances at small suburbs in [[Munich]], such as the Alhambratheater, he wandered through the province and finally found engagements in Alzey, Karlsruhe, Lucerne, Sondershausen, Helmstedt and Aachen. During the [[First World War]] he served as a cavalryman on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]], was wounded, fired and joined the front theaters in Warsaw and Łódź.
During a commitment begun in 1917 at the Munich Volkstheater, Fritz Kampers got to know the director Franz Seitz, who gave him some film engagements. Even as a film director, he appeared between 1917 and 1920 in appearance. In The Volkstyrann played under his direction the famous colleague Albert Steinrück the main role. In 1920 he went to Berlin, where he worked for a year as a villain for Gustav Althoff's film company and at the same time on stages such as the Kleinen Schauspielhaus, the Lessingtheater, the German Theater and the Revue Theater "Admiralspalast" occurred. Kampers also became popular as a cabaret artist; For a time he was part of the ensemble of Trude Hesterberg's political-literary cabaret "Die Wilde Bühne".
In the mid-1920s, Fritz Kampers changed roles and played as comic character actor pithy originals and neat soldiers and officers, often with Bavarian influence. The likeable of these guys, whom he successfully portrayed until the end of his film career, was the apparent antagonism of primordial robustness and bluntness on the one hand - Kampers' gestures were thrifty, his short sentences dry and almost deliberate - and wit, cunning, and unexpected depth on the other hand.
The change to the sound film fell to Fritz Kampers easily. He had great roles in Max Obal's comedy "The Merry Musicians" (1930), in GW Pabst's films "West Front 1918" (1930) and "Comradeship" (1931), in "Three of the Stamp" (1932) and "Two Good Comrades "(1933). When many film artists went abroad in 1933 because of the Nazi entry into the government and the film industry was desperately looking for a suitable replacement, Kampers, who occasionally also directed in the period after the First World War, was given the opportunity to stage two of his own films: the {{lang|de|[[Schwank (comedy)|Schwank]]}} "Konjunkturritter" (1933/34, with White Ferdl and Sabine Peters) and the confusion comedy "I sing 'into my heart" (1934, with Lien Deyers and Hans Söhnker).
His acting career continued under the regime of National Socialism. From 1934 he was part of the ensemble of the Berlin [[Volksbühne]] and he also continued to appear in films - including in Nazi propaganda films such as "Three Emperor Hunters" (1933), "The Four Musketeers" (1934), "Holiday on Honor" (1937), "In the Name of the People" (1939), "Robert and Bertram" (1939), "The Fire Devil" (1940), "About Everything in the World" and "Attack on Baku" (1941). Although Kampers was appointed a state actor by Joseph Goebbels in 1939, by 1942 he seems to have been rejected from film offers in propaganda films.
In the post-war period, Kampers soon found employment with supporting roles in films like "Sensation in Savoy" and "Schwarzwaldmädel" (1950). He was one of the most active actors in German film. Between 1918 and 1950 he was involved in more than 260 films, that is every 17th film produced during this period. His resting place is on the Evangelical Cemetery in Neubeckum.
==Selected filmography== {{div col|colwidth=22em}} * ''[[The War of the Oxen (1920 film)|The War of the Oxen]]'' (1920) * ''[[Lola Montez, the King's Dancer]]'' (1922) * ''[[Yellow Star (film)|Yellow Star]]'' (1922) * ''[[The Circle of Death]]'' (1922) * ''[[Shame (1922 film)|Shame]]'' (1922) * ''[[Monna Vanna (1922 film)|Monna Vanna]]'' (1922) * ''[[The Stone Rider]]'' (1923) * ''[[Man by the Wayside]]'' (1923) * ''[[William Tell (1923 film)|William Tell]]'' (1923) * ''[[Arabella (1924 film)|Arabella]]'' (1924) * ''[[The Path to God]]'' (1924) * ''[[Nanon (1924 film)|Nanon]]'' (1924) * ''[[Lord Reginald's Derby Ride]]'' (1924) * ''[[The Voice of the Heart (1924 film)|The Voice of the Heart]]'' (1924) * ''[[Wallenstein (film)|Wallenstein]]'' (1925) * ''[[People of the Sea (film)|People of the Sea]]'' (1925) * ''[[Curfew (1925 film)|Curfew]]'' (1925) * ''[[Reveille: The Great Awakening]]'' (1925) * ''[[Semi-Silk]]'' (1925) * ''[[In the Valleys of the Southern Rhine]]'' (1925) * ''[[Comedians (1925 film)|Comedians]]'' (1925) * ''[[Goetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand (1925 film)|Goetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand]]'' (1925) * ''[[The Man Without Sleep]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Circus of Life (1926 film)|The Circus of Life]]'' (1926) * ''[[Our Daily Bread (1926 film)|Our Daily Bread]]'' (1926) * ''[[Nanette Makes Everything]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Mill at Sanssouci]]'' (1926) * ''[[We'll Meet Again in the Heimat]]'' (1926) * ''[[Give My Regards to the Blonde Child on the Rhine]]'' (1926) * ''[[Marriage Announcement]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Uncle from the Provinces]]'' (1926) * ''[[Tea Time in the Ackerstrasse]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Hunter of Fall (1926 film)|The Hunter of Fall]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Captain from Koepenick (1926 film)|The Captain from Koepenick]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Priest from Kirchfeld (1926 film)|The Priest from Kirchfeld]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Prince and the Dancer]]'' (1926) * ''[[Superfluous People]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Pride of the Company]]'' (1926) * ''[[We Belong to the Imperial-Royal Infantry Regiment]]'' (1926) * ''[[Radio Magic]]'' (1927) * ''[[Forbidden Love (1927 film)|Forbidden Love]]'' (1927) * ''[[The Curse of Vererbung]]'' (1927) * ''[[A Serious Case]]'' (1927) * ''[[German Women - German Faithfulness]]'' (1927) * ''[[The Pink Slippers]]'' (1927) * ''[[Weekend Magic]]'' (1927) * ''[[A Girl of the People]]'' (1927) * ''[[His Late Excellency (1927 film)|His Late Excellency]]'' (1927) * ''[[The Imaginary Baron]]'' (1927) * ''[[The Lady with the Mask]]'' (1928) * ''[[Mariett Dances Today]]'' (1928) * ''[[It Attracted Three Fellows]]'' (1928) * ''[[Marriage (1928 film)|Marriage]]'' (1928) * ''[[The House Without Men]]'' (1928) * ''[[Under Suspicion (1928 film)|Under Suspicion]]'' (1928) * ''[[Robert and Bertram (1928 film)|Robert and Bertram]]'' (1928) * ''[[Sir or Madam]]'' (1928) * ''[[Almenrausch and Edelweiss (1928 film)|Almenrausch and Edelweiss]]'' (1928) * ''[[The Page Boy at the Golden Lion]]'' (1928) * ''[[A Better Master]]'' (1928) * ''[[Lemke's Widow (1928 film)|Lemke's Widow]]'' (1928) * ''[[Darling of the Dragoons]]'' (1928) * ''[[The Lady and the Chauffeur]]'' (1928) * ''[[The Women's War (film)|The Women's War]]'' (1928) * ''[[Miss Chauffeur]]'' (1928) * ''[[Autumn on the Rhine]]'' (1928) * ''[[Mary Lou (1928 film)|Mary Lou]]'' (1928) * ''[[The Mistress and her Servant]]'' (1929) * ''[[The Right of the Unborn]]'' (1929) * ''[[The Woman Everyone Loves Is You]]'' (1929) * ''[[Foolish Happiness]]'' (1929) * ''[[Tragedy of Youth]]'' (1929) * ''[[Tempo! Tempo!]]'' (1929) * ''[[Marriage in Trouble]]'' (1929) * ''[[The Circus Princess (1929 film)|The Circus Princess]]'' (1929) * ''[[Katharina Knie (film)|Katharina Knie]]'' (1929) * ''[[Somnambul]]'' (1929) * ''[[Gentlemen Among Themselves]]'' (1929) * ''[[Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1930 film)|Kohlhiesel's Daughters]]'' (1930) * ''[[Westfront 1918]]'' (1930) * ''[[The Widow's Ball]]'' (1930) * ''[[The Corvette Captain]]'' (1930) * ''[[Rag Ball]]'' (1930) * ''[[The Three from the Filling Station (1930 film)|The Three from the Filling Station]]'' (1930) * ''[[Pension Schöller (1930 film)|Pension Schöller]]'' (1930) * ''[[Dreyfus (1930 film)|Dreyfus]]'' (1930) * ''[[Die Bräutigamswitwe]]'' (1931) * ''[[Shooting Festival in Schilda]]'' (1931) * ''[[Gloria (1931 film)|Gloria]]'' (1931) * ''[[Schubert's Dream of Spring]]'' (1931) * ''[[Peace of Mind (film)|Peace of Mind]]'' (1931) * ''[[Kameradschaft]]'' (1931) * ''[[The Blue of Heaven]]'' (1932) * ''[[Spoiling the Game]]'' (1932) * ''[[Mrs. Lehmann's Daughters]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Rebel (1932 film)|The Rebel]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Pride of Company Three]]'' (1932) * ''[[Scandal on Park Street]]'' (1932) * ''[[Three from the Unemployment Office]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Heath Is Green (1932 film)|The Heath Is Green]]'' (1932) * ''[[Three Bluejackets and a Blonde]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Judas of Tyrol]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Hunter from Kurpfalz]]'' (1933) * ''[[Manolescu, Prince of Thieves]]'' (1933) * ''[[A City Upside Down]]'' (1933) * ''[[Honour Among Thieves (1933 film)|Honour Among Thieves]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Master Detective (1933 film)|The Master Detective]]'' (1933) * ''[[A Woman Like You (1933 film)|A Woman Like You]]'' (1933) * ''[[Two Good Comrades]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Emperor's Waltz (1933 film)|The Emperor's Waltz]]'' (1933) * ''[[Little Man, What Now? (1933 film)|Little Man, What Now?]]'' (1933) * ''[[The Double Fiance]]'' (1934) * ''[[Financial Opportunists]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Sun Rises (1934 film)|The Sun Rises]]'' (1934) * ''[[Love and the First Railway]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Four Musketeers (1934 film)|The Four Musketeers]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Gypsy Baron (1935 film)|The Gypsy Baron]]'' (1935) * ''[[City of Anatol]]'' (1936) * ''[[Martha (1936 film)|Martha]]'' (1936) * ''[[The Three Around Christine]]'' (1936) * ''[[The Violet of Potsdamer Platz]]'' (1936) * ''[[The Beggar Student (1936 film)|The Beggar Student]]'' (1936) * ''[[White Slaves (film)|White Slaves]]'' (1937) * ''[[Meiseken]]'' (1937) * ''[[Pour Le Mérite]]'' (1938) * ''[[Northern Lights (1938 film)|Northern Lights]]'' (1938) * ''[[Legion Condor (film)|Legion Condor]]'' (1939) * ''[[The Golden Mask (1939 film)|The Golden Mask]]'' (1939) * ''[[The Scoundrel (1939 film)|The Scoundrel]]'' (1939) * ''[[In the Name of the People (1939 film)|In the Name of the People]]'' (1939) * ''[[Robert and Bertram (1939 film)|Robert and Bertram]]'' (1939) * ''[[Ursula Under Suspicion]]'' (1939) * ''[[The Girl from Barnhelm]]'' (1940) * ''[[The Fire Devil]]'' (1940) * ''[[Left of the Isar, Right of the Spree (1940 film)|Left of the Isar, Right of the Spree]]'' (1940) * ''[[Above All Else in the World]]'' (1941) * ''[[Attack on Baku]]'' (1942) * ''[[Bravo Acrobat!]]'' (1943) * ''[[Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1943 film)|Kohlhiesel's Daughters]]'' (1943) * ''[[Gabriele Dambrone]]'' (1943) * ''[[The War of the Oxen (1943 film)|The War of the Oxen]]'' (1943) * ''[[The Second Shot (1943 film)|The Second Shot]]'' (1943) * ''[[The Master Detective]]'' (1944) * ''[[Marriage of Affection]]'' (1944) * ''[[Peter Voss, Thief of Millions (1946 film)|Peter Voss, Thief of Millions]]'' (1946) * ''[[Everything Will Be Better in the Morning]]'' (1948) * ''[[Nothing But Coincidence]]'' (1949) * ''[[I'll Make You Happy (1949 film)|I'll Make You Happy]]'' (1949) * ''[[Friday the Thirteenth (1949 film)|Friday the Thirteenth]]'' (1949) * ''[[Abundance of Life]]'' (1950) {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * Aros (das ist: Alfred Rosenthal): ''Fritz Kampers. Ein Schauspielerleben'' (= ''Illustrierte Filmbücher.'' Bd. 12). Scherl, Berlin 1932. * [[Hans-Michael Bock]] (Hrsg.): ''CineGraph. Lexikon zum deutschsprachigen Film.'' Edition Text + Kritik, München 1984 ff. (Loseblattausgabe). * {{IMDb name|0436922|Fritz Kampers}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kampers, Fritz}} [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century German male actors]] [[Category:German male film actors]] [[Category:German male silent film actors]] [[Category:Male actors from Munich]]