It’s not just a great national anthem, it’s a great Nazi-fighting anthem. And Paul Henreid, forever to be known as “Casablanca” Nazi-fighter Victor Laszlo, was the right man to sing it — the Austrian was so ardently anti-Nazi he was declared an official enemy of the Third Reich.
Born in Trieste and trained in Vienna, he was discovered by Otto Preminger and acted in films in Germany before he left for England in 1937, where he ended up playing Nazis on-screen. He reached America in 1940 and again played mostly ethnic roles before his breakthrough in “Casablanca.”
He became a U.S. citizen in 1941 and was among a group of Hollywood actors who went to Washington in 1947 to speak against the House Committee on Un-American Activities (Henreid is the tall one in back). He made a second career as a television director after Alfred Hitchcock hired him in 1955 to direct his “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” He went on to direct more than 80 episodes, along with episodes of early-TV classics such as “Maverick” and “Bonanza.” He died, age 84, in 1992.
Happy Bastille Day! Viva la France!