Trivia: Like so many German actors who played Nazis during World War II, Conrad Veidt was a fervent anti-Nazi and had fled Europe just one step ahead of the storm troopers. Veidt began his career at age 20 under the guidance of the great Max Reinhardt. His first taste of worldwide fame came by way of his highly stylized portrayal of the tormented Cesare in Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919). His performance in The Student of Prague (1926) led to his being briefly snatched by Hollywood, where he launched his American film career by donning several layers of age makeup and portraying the doddering Louis XI in The Beloved Rogue (1927). Veidt returned to Germany in 1929, but left for England with his Jewish wife when Hitler came to power. On a brief visit to his homeland, Veidt was detained by the German authorities for highly suspect reasons, and had to be rescued by his British studio. In 1940, he was back in America to complete his scenes in the U.S./British co-production The Thief of Baghdad. He remained in Hollywood for the rest of his career, essaying such villainous characters as the cunning Major Strasser in Casablanca (1942). Conrad Veidt died of a sudden heart attack after playing an Austrian undercover agent in Above Suspicion (1943).

Trivia: Actress Lil Dagover was born in Java to a Dutch family working in that country. She was educated in Baden-Baden and Weimar, Germany. While pursuing an acting career she married a much-older stage performer, Fritz Daghofer. The marriage was brief but it did give Lil her professional last name, which she respelled. Somewhat reminiscent of American film star Theda Bara in her dark-lined makeup and florid acting mannerisms, Dagover was ideal for the surrealistic ambience of her first important film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), and soon other European actresses were adopting Lil's heavy-lidded, highly stylized technique. Ms. Dagover was a particular favorite of director Fritz Lang, who cast the actress in such exotic silent classics Die Spinnen [Spiders] (1919), Destiny (1921) and Dr. Mabuse der Spieler (1922). Lil made one American film, Warner Bros.' The Woman From Monte Carlo (1931) -- yet another attempt by Hollywood moguls to create a "new" Greta Garbo, even though Dagover preceded Garbo by nearly a decade. Returning to Germany, Dagover avoided overt political involvement during the Third Reich, concentrating on harmless costume musicals and comedies during World War II. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she managed to retain her stature in the post-war years. Lil Dagover's final appearance was a small part in the German-Italian co-production End of the Game (1976)--an appropriate title for the climax of nearly half a century's worth of film roles.