Paul Konrad Müller (11 March 1923 – 2 September 2016) was a Swiss actor, who spent the majority of his career in Italy. His motion picture acting career spanned a period of 51 years, with over 230 film roles between 1948 and 2004.

Paul Müller
Müller in 1953.
Born
Paul Konrad Müller

(1923-03-11)11 March 1923
Died2 September 2016(2016-09-02) (aged 93)
CitizenshipSwitzerland
Alma materConservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique
OccupationActor
Years active1944–2004

Acting career

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Theatre

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In 1941/1942 he studied acting at the "Conservatoire National Supérieur d`Art Dramatique" in Paris. Until 1944 he had different engagements at theatres in Paris, e. g. "Theatre Pigalle", "Salle Pleyel", "Theatre des Ambassadeurs". From 1944 to 1946 he was called up for military service in the French Army in Indochina shortly before the First Indochina War took place there. He caught malaria during that time and, in consequence of the disease, was left hard of hearing. From 1947 to 1948 he had different engagements at theatres and touring companies not only in France, but also in the French part of Allied-occupied Germany and in Florence, e. g. "Tournée Spectacles Moyses", Teatro della Pergola. He acted, inter alia, under the direction of Georges Douking. His first film role came at age 25 in Ruy Blas (1948).

Film

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Paul Müller appeared in over 230 films since his first role in 1948. He spent most of his life by working in Italy, his main country of residence. He worked over more than 60 years with most of the well-known European actresses and actors of classic cinema and with some famous names of the Cinema of Italy like Roberto Rossellini, Carlo Ponti, Federico Fellini, Mario Bava, Sergio Corbucci, Michelangelo Antonioni. He also made his appearance in films under the direction of Veit Harlan, Artur Brauner, Jesús "Jess" Franco, René Clément, Michael Curtiz, Richard Fleischer, Jean-Pierre Mocky and many others. (Jesus Franco alone co-starred him in no less than 18 films).

Personal life and death

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Müller died in Tivoli, Lazio on 2 September 2016, at the age of 93.[1][2][3]

Selected filmography

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Awards and honours

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In 2009 the German film production company Anolis published a Collector's Edition of Mario Bava's and Ricardo Freda's masterpiece I Vampiri (Der Vampir von Notre-Dame) on a 2-DVD-Set. That item includes, inter alia, three different versions of the first Italian horror movie of the sound era and an exclusive interview with actor Paul Müller about his career ("C'est la Vie – Paul Müller erzählt"). It is the only on-screen interview appearance of him in existence. The DVD is especially dedicated to Müller and his remarkable work within the European film industry.

Further reading

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  • Jess Franco, *Memorias del tío Jess (2004) (autobiography, in Spanish)
  • Lucas Balbo, Peter Blumenstock, Christian Kessler, Tim Lucas, *Obsession – The Films of Jess Franco (1993)
  • Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer *Maedchen, Machos und Moneten: Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. Mit einem Vorwort von Jess Franco. Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, Zurich, 2006, ISBN 3-033-00960-3

References

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  1. ^ "Müller, Paul (1923–2016)". Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Paul Müller". Cine Artistes. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Muller, Paul". Les Gens du Cinéma. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
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