German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden-Westf., no. 1961. Photo: Deutsche London / Von Mindszenty. Publicity still for Die gestolene Hose/The Stolen Trousers (Géza von Cziffra, 1956).
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 2058. Photo: Arthur Grimm.
A sweet and handsome Jeune Premier
Siegfried Breuer Jr. was born Walter Breuer in Vienna, Austria in 1930. He was the son of the actor Siegfried Breuer, who had been a famous film actor during the Third Reich.
Walter was trained at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, and since 1952 he worked as a film actor.
In 1954, after his father had died, the 23 years old was promoted as the new star, Siegfried Breuer Jr. His first major role was in Der Schweigende Engel/The Silent Angel (Harald Reinl, 1954) starring Christine Kaufmann.
In contrast to his father Siegfried, who often embodied the icy seducer, Junior was primarily cast in light entertainment films as a sweet and handsome Jeune Premier (the youthful lover).
He was seen as such on the side of the young Romy Schneider in Die Deutschmeister/A March for the Emperor (Ernst Marischka, 1955), Margit Saad in Drei Mädels vom Rhein/Three Girls from the Rhine (Georg Jacoby, 1955) and Susanne Cramer in Die gestolene Hose/The Stolen Trousers (Géza von Cziffra, 1956).
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1324. Photo: EVA / Constantin / Marhoffer. Publicity still for Der Schweigende Engel/The Silent Angel (Harald Reinl, 1954).
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, no. V 318. Photo: Erma / Herzog-Film / Czerwonski. Publicity still for Der Deutschmeister/A March for the Emperor (Ernst Marischka, 1955).
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 1692. Photo: Wega / Constantin.
Tinny voice
By his own assessment, Siegfried Breuer Jr. was miscast as the charming lover with his ‘tinny voice’ and broadcast feature, which was anything but gracious. After five years, he changed his name back to Walter Breuer.
He played smaller roles in films like the drama Polikuschka/Polikuska (Carmine Gallone, 1958) featuring Folco Lulli, and the Yugoslavian war film Kapetan Lesi/Captain Lechi (Zivorad 'Zika' Mitrovic, 1960).
One of his final films was In Frankfurt sind die Nächte heiß/In Frankfurt, the Nights are Hot (Rolf Olsen, 1966) with Vera Tschechowa.
After his film career, he worked at the Bayerischer Rundfunk as a production assistant.
In 2004, Walter Breuer passed away. He was 73. According to an obituary in the German newspaper Die Welt, the burden to be a son of a famous father had been heavy for him. However, his sons Jacques and Pascal Breuer have also become actors.
German postcard by Kunst und Bild, Berlin, no. T 642. Photo: A. Grimm / Delos / Constantin. Publicity still for Roman einer Siebzehnjährigen/Novel of a Seventeen-year-old (Paul Verhoeven, 1955).
German card. Photo: A. Grimm / Delos / Constantin.
Sources: Die Welt (German), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.
This post was last updated on 10 August 2023.
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