Henry Victor Henry Victor

Victor was born in London, England, but was raised in Germany, he made his film debut as Prince Andreas in The King's Romance (1914). He appeared in literary interpreted pieces such as The Picture of Dorian Gray (1916) and the Graham Cutts-directed The White Shadow (1923). Victor is probably best remembered for his portrayal of the circus strongman Hercules in Tod Browning's film Freaks (1932). The role was originally considered for Victor McLaglen, with whom Browning had worked previously. Victor emigrated to America in 1939.

Never a leading man in sound films mainly due to his difficult to interpret accent, he established later in his career, and with the advent of talkies, many character roles, in which he mostly portrayed villains or Nazis in both American and British films with his trademark German accent such as the Ernst Lubitsch film, To Be or Not to Be (1942).

Henry Victor died in 1945, aged 52, from a brain tumour. He is buried in Chatsworth, California, at the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery.