Born in Vienna, Austria; nicknamed "Pepi." The son of actor Rudolph Schildkraut, he trained for the stage under his father's rival, Albert Basserman. In 1910 he accompanied his father on the latter's US tour and enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Returning to Germany in 1913, he joined Reinhardt's stage company, and he soon became a star. In 1920 he settled in the US and within a year was a leading matinee idol on Broadway (Liliom opposite Le Gallienne, 1921, etc.). His parallel screen career saw him transform from a suave leading man in films of the 1920s (D.W. Griffith's ORPHANS OF THE STORM, 1922; C.B. De Mille's ROAD TO YESTERDAY, 1925, and THE KING OF KINGS, 1927) and early 1930s (SHOW BOAT, 1929; CLEOPATRA, 1934; THE CRUSADES, 1935) to a smooth character actor, often villainous. Alternating between films and the stage, he was absent from the screen for a decade before repeating his stage success in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK in 1959. Some of his other notable screen credits include THE BLUE DANUBE (1928 & 1932), VIVA VILLA! (1934), THE GARDEN OF ALLAH (1936), THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA and SOULS AT SEA (both 1937), MARIE ANTOINETTE and SUEZ (both 1938), THE RAINS CAME, LADY OF THE TROPICS, IDIOT'S DELIGHT, THE THREE MUSKETEERS and THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (all 1939), THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940), FLAME OF BARBARY COAST (1945), MONSIEUR BEAUCLAIRE and THE PLAINSMAN AND THE LADY (both 1946) and THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965). Schildkraut's second wife of 29 years, Mary McCay, died during the 3-day filming of the "Twilight Zone"'s third-season finale, "The Trade-Ins" in 1962. Coming from a theatrical family, he insisted on finishing the production before he'd begin mourning. In the episode, he plays an elderly man who must choose between a new body for himself or living the rest of his life with his wife in a pain-wracked body; Schildkraut's personal torments add even more poignance to one of the "Twilight Zone"'s best episodes. He wrote an autobiography, My Father and I (1959).  Supporting Actor 1937: THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA 1 nomination, 1 Award