Paul Henreid: A One-Person Play in Two Acts

"I hate to think of the day when nobody remembers me as an actor, and I can't get good tables in restaurants." - Paul HenreidAlthough he had a long career as an actor and director, Paul Henreid is certainly best remembered for two films he made in the early 1940s: NOW, VOYAGER with Bette Davis, and CASABLANCA with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Born in Trieste and raised in Vienna, Henreid began his acting career under the direction of legendary director Max Reinhardt, but left the European continent when the Nazis came to power. In England, he found work on both stage (VICTORIA REGINA) and in films (GOODBYE, MR CHIPS, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH). However, after Hitler invaded Austria, his status in the U.K. became tenuous. He took his first opportunity to move to the United States where his film career flourished...until he and other Hollywood folk opposed the House Committee on Un-American Activities.Michael B. Druxman's PAUL HENREID is set in 1968, and finds the actor in Nice, France, about to co-star in a film with Katharine Hepburn. He has just learned that his friend, the movie's original director, has quit the production, and now Henreid must decide whether he will do the same.