Frederic Zelnik

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Austrian film producer (1885–1950)

title: "Frederic Zelnik" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1885-births", "1950-deaths", "mass-media-people-from-chernivtsi", "people-from-the-duchy-of-bukovina", "bukovina-jews", "german-people-of-austrian-jewish-descent", "austrian-silent-film-directors", "german-silent-film-directors", "german-film-directors", "german-male-film-actors", "german-male-silent-film-actors", "20th-century-german-male-actors", "jewish-emigrants-from-nazi-germany-to-the-united-kingdom", "artists-from-chernivtsi", "austrian-film-directors", "actors-from-chernivtsi"] description: "Austrian film producer (1885–1950)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Zelnik" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Austrian film producer (1885–1950) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameFriedrich Zelnik
imageFriedrich Zelnik.jpg
captionZelnik prior to 1931
birth_date
birth_placeCzernowitz, Duchy of Bukovina, Austria-Hungary
death_date
death_placeLondon, England
occupation
years_active1914–1939
spouse
::

| name = Friedrich Zelnik | image = Friedrich Zelnik.jpg | caption = Zelnik prior to 1931 | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = Czernowitz, Duchy of Bukovina, Austria-Hungary | death_date = | death_place = London, England | occupation = |years_active = 1914–1939 | spouse = Frederic Zelnik (born Friedrich Zelnik; 17 May 1885 – 29 November 1950) was an Austrian producer, director, and actor. He was one of the most important producers-directors of the German silent cinema. Zelnik achieved success through period operetta films in the 1920s and 1930s.

Biography

Friedrich Zelnik was born into a Jewish family in Czernowitz, today in Ukraine, at the time the capital of the Duchy of Bukovina in the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. After studying in Vienna, Friedrich Zelnik worked as an actor in theaters in Nürnberg, Aachen, Worms, Prague and finally Berlin, in the theaters Theater an der Königsgrätzer Straße, Berliner Theater, and Komödienhaus.

In 1914 Friedrich Zelnik began acting in films, and after 1915 producing and directing movies while still appearing in roles as an actor in other director'films. In 1918 he married a young Polish ballet dancer turned film actress named Lya Mara and promoted her to stardom by producing and directing movies for her. In 1920 he established a film production firm Zelnik-Mara-Film GmbH.

Popular, operetta style costume films like The Blue Danube, The Bohemian Dancer, Dancing Vienna, Mariett Dances Today brought Lya Mara and Zelnik enormous success in Germany and beyond. Several of his collaborators, such as cameraman Frederik Fuglsang and production designer André Andrejew are perceived today as important artists of the German silent cinema.

Upon the introduction of sound film, Friedrich Zelnik became the first director in Europe to postsynchronize a movie, The Crimson Circle (1929), using the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. In 1930, Zelnik traveled to Hollywood, California and upon his return to Germany, directed his first full sound film, a new version of his silent success The Bohemian Dancer.

After Hitler took power in 1933, Zelnik and Lya Mara left Germany for London. In the following years, Zelnik continued to direct and produce movies in Great Britain and The Netherlands. He also legally changed his name to Frederic Zelnik and took British citizenship.

Zelnik died in 1950 in London, aged 65.

Selected filmography

Director

Producer

References

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