Trivia

His many friends included such diverse people as Hanna Reitsch, Lida Baarova, Hans Fallada, Anny Ondra, and Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg.

In 1965, Wieman received the Bambi Award.

The actor Mathias Wieman began his film career in the silent movie.

Mathias Wieman took up residence in Switzerland after the war together with his wife, the actress Erika Meingast.

Mathias and his wife Erika (died in 1972) were cremated and the ashes buried in the Wieman family plot in the Johannesfriedhof cemetery in Osnabrück.

In 1930 he appeared the first time with Leni Riefenstahl in the movie "Stürme über dem Mont Blanc" (1930). When Leni Riefenstahl realised her first movie as a director, she engaged him for the leading role for "Das blaue Licht" (1932).

Raised in Osnabrück, Wiesbaden and Berlin, where he studied four terms of philosophy, history of art and languages, Wieman wanted to actually become an airplane technical designer and flier.

In the 50's he was able to work more intensive in the film business again, normally in support roles.

In 1992 Deutsche Grammophon issued a commemorative set of CDs in honour of the 100th anniversary of Wieman's birth: Für Kenner & Kinder.

In 1937, Wieman was made Staatsschauspieler, an honorary title bestowed by the German government and the highest honour attainable by an actor in Germany.

When Mathias Wieman was classed as "persona non grata" by Joseph Goebbels this reduced his activity in movies effectively. He only took part in few movies in the 40'.

In Roberto Rossellini's movie "La Paura - Angst" (1954) he impersonated at Ingrid Berman's side her husband.

Two of the films Mathias starred in were in competition at the Cannes Film Festival: In 1952, No Greater Love; and in 1954, As Long as You're Near Me.

After the failed 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler happened in 1944, Mathias and his wife Erika helped the family of Count Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg. This assistance is detailed by Charlotte von der Schulenburg in the book Courageous Hearts: Women and the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Dorothee Von Meding, Berghahn Books, 1997).

He also had an international success with his appearance in "Die ewige Maske" (1936). The movie was awarded with the "American National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Film" in the USA, Wieman himself got the award as best actor.

In the early 1920s, he was a member of the Holtorf-Truppe, a stock theater group that included future director Veit Harlan. His fellow stage actors included his future wife, Erika Meingast, Marlene Dietrich, Dora Gerson and Max Schreck (the vampire in Nosferatu).

Wieman experienced the height of his film career in the 30's where he acted in many popular productions, among them "Die Herrin von Atlantis" (1932), "Die Gräfin von Monte Christo" (1932), "Der Schimmelreiter" (1934), "Viktoria" (1935) and "Togger" (1937).

He started his acting career on the stage in Berlin under the direction of Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater.

Wieman also made many records (LPs) of classic stories where he would narrate the story accompanied by orchestral music. One example is Peter und der Wolf with Mathias and the Berlin Philharmonic in 1950 conducted by Fritz Lehmann and the Orchestre National de France in 1962 conducted by Lorin Maazel. Another example is Mathias Wiemans kleine Diskothek.

Besides his activity in movies he was also a successful theater actor who found his classic role in Johan Wolfgang von Goethe's "Dr. Faust". Beside it he also appeared in plays by Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen and Bertholt Brecht.

On stage, Wieman appeared in a number of productions including, Goethe's Faust, Pygmalion (play) by George Bernard Shaw, the most famous play of Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and in Bertolt Brecht's In The Jungle of Cities (Im Dickicht der Städte).

In 1936 Wieman produced the Frankenburger Würfelspiel of the Nazi playwright Eberhard Wolfgang Möller in association with the 1936 Summer Olympics and the inauguration of the Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne, and also played the Black Knight.

In 1958, his hometown of Osnabrück awarded him the prestigious Justus-Möser-Medaille for his achievements in acting on stage and screen.