Ralph Arthur Roberts

Biography

Ralph Arthur Roberts, born as Robert Arthur Schönherr on October 2, 1884, in Meerane, grew up in Dresden where he already worked as an extra at Albert-Theater during his time at school – a passion that promptly lead to his expulsion from school for "unfitting" behaviour. He took acting and composition lessons and got his first engagement in 1903 at Wiesbaden's Residenztheater. Roberts then made guest performances in Berlin and in Breslau before he became a cast member of Hamburg's Thalia Theater in 1909.

After his military service during World War I, Roberts returned to Thalia Theater where he became a popular character comedian in productions of plays like "Tartüff" ("Tartuffe"), "Die Fledermaus", and other comedies. Furthermore, Roberts directed the revue "Bunt ist die Welt" for which he wrote the song "Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins" that became immensely popular through the film "Große Freiheit Nr. 7" ("Great Freedom No. 7", 1944) and was also used in Wolfgang Liebeneiner's 1954 film by the same name. In 1921, Roberts became the artistic director of Berlin's Komödienhaus. Seven years later, he opened up his own theatre that mainly performed comedies written by Roberts himself.

Unlike his roles at the theatre, Roberts did not commit himself on comedic parts alone in his movie career that he had started in 1919. However, he still regularly appeared in comedies on the movie screen. Roberts made convincing performances in the roles of gloomy characters (for instance, in Paul Otto's film "Erdgift", 1919) and in the roles of eccentric characters like the doll manufacturer in "Einbrecher" ("Burglars", 1930). However, all of the performances were linked by Roberts" eccentric way of acting and his tendency to make every character seem eccentric and quirky in some way.

On March 12, 1940, Ralph Arthur Roberts died in Berlin.