Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a
German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920),
The Man Who Laughs (1928), and, after being forced to migrate to Britain by the rise of Nazism in Germany, his English-speaking roles in
The Thief of Bagdad (1940), and, in Hollywood,
Casablanca (1942). After a successful career in German silent film, where he was one of the best-paid stars of
Ufa, he left
Germany in 1933 with his new Jewish wife after the
Nazis came to power. They settled in
Britain, where he participated in a number of films before emigrating to the
United States around 1941.