Eduard Franz

Eduard Franz
Eduard Franz (left)
Born	Eduard Franz Schmidt (1902-10-31)October 31, 1902 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	February 10, 1987(1987-02-10) (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Illness
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1918–1987

Eduard Franz (born Eduard Franz Schmidt; October 31, 1902 – February 10, 1987) was an American actor of theatre, film and television. Franz portrayed King Ahab in the 1953 biblical low-budget film Sins of Jezebel, Jethro in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), and Jehoam in Henry Koster's The Story of Ruth (1960).

Franz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was a leading Broadway actor for nearly 20 years, in such plays as First Stop to Heaven and Embezzled Heaven, before making his film debut opposite John Wayne in Wake of the Red Witch in 1948. He portrayed Chief Broken Hand in White Feather. He played such intellectuals as Dr. Stern in The Thing (From Another Planet) (1951), a university professor in The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959), and Justice Louis Brandeis in The Magnificent Yankee. He appeared in a 1957 television adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, Beyond This Place, which was directed by Sidney Lumet.

Franz appeared in two separate remakes of Al Jolson's 1927 cinema classic The Jazz Singer, each time playing the key role of the aged and ailing synagogue cantor upset by his son's decision to pursue a secular show-business career rather than continue the family tradition and follow in his father's religious footsteps - the 1952 film version of the story starring Danny Thomas and the 1959 television version starring Jerry Lewis.