Trivia

He portrayed the mysterious "Der Schmale" ("The Thin Man") in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). Many of the scenes in the latter film in which he appears are part of the Metropolis footage long believed lost until their recovery in 2008.

His obituary in Der Spiegel described Rasp as "the German film villain in service, for over 60 years.".

Ilja Ehrenburg, writer of the movie "Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney", wrote about Rasp in later days: "Of all actors in the movie "Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney" in 1927 Fritz Rasp was the one who pleased me most. He looked like a veritable scoundrel. When he bit the girl into her arm and covered the wound immediately afterwards with a dollar note instead of a adhesive plaster, I forgot that an actor was in front of me".

His first roles in front of the camera were appointed to comedic roles but already in the 20s he was mostly engaged for knavish and twisty characters.

The sound movie couldn't harm the career of Fritz Rasp. He already played in the 30s in several Edgar-Wallace pictures which were very popular in Germany. Especially in the 50s and 60s there were a lot of remakes based on stories by Edgar Wallace which could lure a huge number of spectators into the cinema. Of course Rasp was also called to play one of the suspects.

His film career came to a stop when he served in the military from 1916 to 1918 during World War I.

The actor Fritz Rasp was a very noticeable figure and he was predestined to personify dubious fellows. He was born in Bayreuth as the 13th child. He made his stage debut in 1909 in the play "Jugend" at the Schauspielhaus in Munich. led "Jugend". When he joined the Reinhardt ensemble he was able to get in touch with many other actors like Werner Krauss.

The 20s also marked the breakthrough of his film career, whereas one wished they had engaged this catchy character more often.

During his long career, the character actor appeared in some of the most famous theaters in Germany, working with acclaimed directors like Bertolt Brecht and Max Reinhardt.

Fritz Rasp was awarded with the Filmband in Gold in 1963 for his outstanding work for the German film.

Beside the film Fritz Rasp remained busy at the theater as well and he appeared on many German stages in the next years like the Metropoltheater and the Deutsches Theater.

In 1915 he came in contact with the medium film for the first time. The title of his first movie can't be proved, most likely it was the movie "Zucker und Zimt" of director Ernst Matray.

In 1916 he acted for the legendary director Ernst Lubitsch in the film "Schuhpalast Pinkus" .

During and after the first years of World War II his engagements in front of the camera diminished.

At the end of his career he also appeared in some TV productions. His last great triumph he experienced with the TV production "Lina Braake" at Lina Carsten's side.

Some of Rasp's more notable film roles were "J. J. Peachum" in The Threepenny Opera (1931), as the reckless seducer Meinert in Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), as Mr. Brocklehurst in Orphan of Lowood (1926), an early German adaptation of Jane Eyre, and as the bank robber Grundeis in Emil and the Detectives (1931).

One of his children was writer Renate Rasp (1935-2015).

Gräfelfing, Bavaria (Bayern), Germany: Buried at Friedhof Gräfelfing Cemetery. (December 1976)