Oskar Werner Biography

Universally regarded as one of Western Europe's foremost stage actors, Oskar Werner was 18 years old when he made his stage bow at the Burgtheater in his native Vienna. A lifelong pacifist, Werner did everything he could to avoid conscription in the Axis army during World War II; when he finally was forced into a uniform, he deserted at the earliest opportunity. After the war, Werner resumed his theatrical career, only reluctantly making his first film in 1948; "I am married to the theater, and the films are only my mistress" he would later declare. In 1951, he made his English-language film debut as "Happy," an enigmatic German POW, in 20th Century-Fox's Decision Before Dawn. When Fox reneged on its promise to develop Werner into a Hollywood star, he went back to his true love, the theatre, vowing to only appear in films that intrigued him. In 1955, he essayed the title role in Mozart, and also played a smaller but no less significant part as the student with the scarf in Ophuls' Lola Montes. Then it was back to the stage, culminating with his formation of Theatre Ensemble Oskar Werner in 1959. Werner's definitive screen performance was the romantic intellectual Jules in Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1962), though it was his portrayal of the philosophical Dr. Schumann in Ship of Fools (1965) that earned the actor his only Oscar nomination. His friendship with Truffaut soured after their second collaboration, Fahrenheit 451 (1967); exhibiting profound disillusionment, Truffaut complained (not without justification) that Werner had become a "cold" performer. Oskar Werner died at the age of 62, just before he was scheduled to deliver a lecture at a German drama club. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

• 1. Montag: To learn how to find, one must first learn how to hide.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Francis L (4 months ago)

• 1. Clarisse: Tell me, why do you burn books?
  2. Montag: What? Well, it's a job like any other. Good work with lots of variety. Monday, we burn Miller; Tuesday, Tolstoy, Wednesday, Walt Whitman, Friday, Faulkner; and Saturday and Sunday, Schopenhauer and Satre. 'We burn them to ashes and then burn the ashes.' that's our official motto.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Ralph T (7 months ago)

• 1. Clarisse: Is it true that a long time ago firemen used to put out fire and not burn books?
  2. Montag: Really, your uncle is right. You are light in the head. 'Put fires out?' Who told you that?
  3. Clarisse: I don't know. Someone. But is it true?
  4. Montag: What a strange idea. Houses have always been fireproof.
  5. Clarisse: Ours isn't.
  6. Montag: Well, then, it should be condemned one of these days. It has to be destroyed and you will have to move to a house that is fireproof.
  7. Clarisse: Too bad.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Ralph T (7 months ago)

• 1. Clarisse: Tell me, that number you all wear, what's it mean?
  2. Montag: Oh, fahrenheit 451.
  3. Clarisse: Why 451 rather than 813 or 121?
  4. Montag: Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper catches fire and starts to burn.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Ralph T (7 months ago)

• 1. Clarisse: Even with my eyes closed, I could tell what you do for a job.
  2. Montag: Because of the smell of kerosene?
  3. Clarisse: Huh.
  4. Montag: Quite a scent, isn't it? My wife doesn't like it very much. She says it lingers. I don't mind. I think of it as a... perfume.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Ralph T (7 months ago)

• 1. Clarisse: My uncle says I am a veritable well of words.
  2. Montag: Has this uncle of yours ever warned you never to speak to strangers?
  3. Clarisse: No. He did say once if anyone asked how old I was to say I was twenty years old and light in the head. They always go together.
  4. Montag: 'Light in the head'?
  5. Clarisse: Mmm. Loopy. Crazy. Anyway, you don't frighten me.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Ralph T (7 months ago)

• 1. Captain: What does Montag do with his day off duty?
  2. Montag: Not very much, sir. Mow the lawn.
  3. Captain: And what if the law forbids that?
  4. Montag: Just watch it grow, sir.
  5. Captain: Uh-huh. Good.
  From Fahrenheit 451. Submitted by Ralph T (7 months ago)