Queer Places:
Neustädter Friedhof, Hoher Weg & Reinserturmweg, 37574 Einbeck, Germany

Wilhelm Bendow (29 September 1884 – 29 May 1950) was a German film actor who appeared in a large number of films during his career. Bendow made his debut in the 1913 film Aus eines Mannes Mädchenzeit.[1] In the 1930s the best-known English actors of the time, John Gielgud, Max Adrian, Gyles Isham, Henry Kendall, Charles Laughton, Ernest Milton, Esme Percy, Eric Portman, Ernest Thesiger and Frank Vosper, were homosexual or bisexual. In Germany, actors like Wilhelm Bendow, Max Hansen, Anton Walbrook, Hubert von Meyerinck, and Hans Heinrich von Twardowski made no secret of their homosexuality. In France, Jean Marais was the biggest celebrity. Among women, Marlene Dietrich, Zarah Leander, and Greta Garbo were bisexual. Many homosexuals were also found in the fashion and art world, in particular, in England, the interior decorator John Beresford Fowler, the set designer Oliver Messel, the great dressmaker Norman Hartnell and the photographer Cecil Beaton.

Wilhelm Bendow was born in 1884 as Wilhelm Emil Boden, the son of brewery owner Friedrich Boden in Einbeck. He started his career at Schmierenbühne until he received a commitment at the Berlin Schiller Theater in 1906/07. He also became known as a cabaret artist in the 1920s, especially since he directed his own cabaret Bendows Bunte Bühne (until 1934).

As an actor, he appeared as a moon man in the fantasy film Munchausen . In total he was seen in almost 100 productions, often also in small supporting roles such as in Quax, the Bruchpilot .

Bendow played in numerous feature films and at the theater, mainly comedic roles, and also gained popularity through radio and speech recordings and sketches. He also appeared in the variety show , for example in October 1943 together with Lilly Towska as a partner in the "Scala" in Frankfurt am Main. After an accident in 1948, he withdrew from the public. He was buried in the Neustädter Friedhof in his hometown Einbeck.

Wilhelm Bendow gained renown through the sketch used by many humorists on the racetrack with the much-quoted saying "Where are they going?". A sound recording of the sketch was accompanied by a cartoon in 1972 by Loriot . [3]

In 1938 and 1939 the Gestapo Berlin investigated Bendow on suspicion of homosexual contacts and the proceedings were terminated. Bendow was known as a homosexual in homosexual circles, but did not go public with it himself. [4]


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