13 Facts About Veit Harlan

Veit Harlan was a German film director and actor.

Veit Harlan was born in Charlottenburg, Berlin, the son of the writer Walter Veit Harlan and his wife Adele, nee Boothby.

Veit Harlan's elder brother Peter was a multi-instrumentalist and musical instrument maker.

One of their children, Thomas Veit Harlan, became a writer and director in his own right.

In 1939, Veit Harlan married the Swedish actress Kristina Soderbaum, for whom he wrote several tragic roles that included dramatic suicide scenes, increasing their popularity with the German cinema audience.

Karsten Witte, the film critic, provided a fitting appellation for Veit Harlan calling him "the baroque fascist".

Veit Harlan made the Reich's loudest, most colorful and expensive films.

Veit Harlan successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work, that he was obeying their orders, and that he should not be held personally responsible for the content.

In 1951, Veit Harlan sued for an injunction against Hamburg politician Erich Luth for publicly calling for a boycott of Unsterbliche Geliebte.

Veit Harlan made a total of nine films between 1950 and 1958.

Veit Harlan died in 1964 while on vacation in Capri.

Veit Harlan is credited by her stage name Susanne Christian in Kubrick's Paths of Glory.

Veit Harlan said she was ashamed to come from a "family of murderers" but was relieved that Kubrick's Jewish family accepted her despite her ties to Harlan.