| Sig Ruman | |
| Birth Name: | Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann |
| Birth Date: | October 11, 1884 |
| Birth Place: | Hamburg, Germany |
| Death Place: | Julian, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Julian Cemetery, San Diego County, California |
| Other Names: | Siegfried Rumann Sig Rumann |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1928–1966 |
| Spouse: |
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| Children: | 1 |
Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 - February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains in more than 100 films.[1]
Born in Hamburg, German Empire, to Alban Julius Albrecht Ludwig Rumann and his wife, Caroline Margarethe Sophie Rumann on October 11, 1884,[2] he studied electrical engineering, then began working as an actor and musician[3] before serving with the Imperial German Army during World War I.[4] He resumed his acting career after the war.[5] After emigrating to the United States in 1924, his acting career blossomed. Befriending playwright George S. Kaufman and theater critic Alexander Woollcott, he enjoyed success in many Broadway productions. His Broadway credits included Once There Was a Russian (1961), Lily of the Valley (1942), Eight Bells (1933), Alien Corn (1933), Grand Hotel (1930), Half Gods (1929), and The Channel Road (1929).[6]
Ruman made his film debut in Lucky Boy (1929).He became a favorite comic foil of the Marx Brothers, appearing in A Night at the Opera (1935), A Day at the Races (1937), and A Night in Casablanca (1946). His German accent and large stature kept him busy during World War II, playing sinister Nazi characters in a series of wartime thrillers.
During this period, he also appeared in several films by director Ernst Lubitsch, a fellow German émigré, including Ninotchka (1939), portraying a Russian, and in To Be or Not to Be (1942) as the pompous Nazi Colonel "Concentration-Camp Erhardt". He played the role of Professor Herman Von Reiter in Shining Victory (1941), an adaptation of an A. J. Cronin play. Ruman continued his trend of portraying over-the-top German characters later in his career for Lubitsch's protege Billy Wilder, in his films The Emperor Waltz (1948), and Stalag 17 (1953). Ruman's voice was dubbed over German actor Hubert Von Meyerinck's voice in Wilder's One, Two, Three (1961), and he had a cameo role in The Fortune Cookie (1966).
Around 1936, Ruman modified his screen name from Siegfried Rumann to Sig Ruman in an attempt to make it a little less German-sounding, as anti-German prejudice was rising at that time, just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Despite declining health during the 1950s and 1960s, Ruman continued to appear in films and made many guest appearances on television. He guest-starred as pompous Broadway director Eric von Bissell in the memorable 1965 episode of The Addams Family, "My Fair Cousin Itt".
Ruman died of a heart attack on February 14, 1967, at his home in Julian, California, at the age of 82. He was buried in Julian Cemetery, San Diego County, California.
From his first marriage, to Else Rumann, he had a daughter named Senta.[7]