Harry Piel

Harry Piel
autographed photo, date unknown
Born	Heinrich Piel (1892-07-12)12 July 1892 Düsseldorf, Germany
Died	27 March 1963(1963-03-27) (aged 70) Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1912–1953
Spouse(s)	Dary Holm

Hubert August Piel (12 July 1892, Düsseldorf – 27 March 1963, Munich), known as Harry Piel, was a prolific German actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer who was involved in over 150 films.

Piel became a director in 1912, turning out such box-office successes as Mann Gegen Mann (1928), Achtung! - Auto-Diebe! (1930) and Artisten (1935). His last directorial effort was 1953's Gesprengte Gitter (Elephant Fury, a.k.a. Panic), which he also produced, wrote, and starred.

After attending elementary school in Benrath and High School in Derendorf, Piel became a cadet in 1909 on a sailing ship, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth. In 1911, however, he finished his cadethood and moved to Berlin in 1912 where he created the "Art Film Publishing House Company" and made, as a director, screenwriter and producer, his first feature Black Blood (1912) with Curt Goetz in the lead role. Further films followed, based on adventure and action.

Soon Piel received the nickname "the dynamite director" because of his penchant for including explosion sequences in his films. These were authentic: Piel had befriended a demolition engineer who was often commissioned to dynamite bridges and other condemned structures slated for demolition. The engineer notified Piel of these assignments in advance: Piel filmed the explosions, then inserted the footage into his films.

In 1915, Piel became bored with just standing behind the camera and he started to act. The first film with him as a leading actor, , was a science fiction adventure, where he had to deal with robots. , 1916 included for the first time scenes with wild animals, which he had partly trained himself and which he used later in other films.

This was followed by a number of films between 1918–1919, in which he played the detective "Joe Deebs" eight times and with the film To the Large Unknown Quantity (1919) began to be credited by the name "Harry Peel" internationally.

In 1927 he cast himself in a double role together with Marlene Dietrich in the film His Greatest Bluff. Also, in 1927 Piel married the actress Dary Holm (1897–1960), who appeared in several of his films

In 1930 he directed the comedy Him or Me (1930), and many successful adventure films were to follow, such as Shade of the Underworld (1931), Johnny Steals Europe (1932), The Ship Without a Port, The Call of the Jungle (1935) and His Best Friend (1937).