Richard Otto Bruno Kastner (January 1890 – 30 June 1932) was a German stage and film actor, screenwriter, and film producer whose career was most prominent in the 1910s and 1920s during the silent film era. Kastner was one of the most popular leading men in German films during his career's peak in the 1920s. Early life Richard Otto Bruno Kastner was born in Forst (Lausitz), Brandenburg, Germany in 1890 to Paul Ferdinand Richard Kastner, a forestry tax minister, and Ida Elisabeth Emma Kastner (née Voigt). Kastner attended schools in Fürstenwalde and afterward served a short, seventeen-day stint in the military before being relieved of his duties due to an injury. He subsequently travelled to Berlin and took acting lessons from stage actor Paul Biensfeldt and then relocated briefly to Hamburg where he performed at the Harburger Theater. After a brief period in touring companies he worked as a choral singer and actor at the Meinhard-Bernauer Bühnen in Berlin. Career rise During World War I Kastner avoided military service, assessed as unfit for service due to his prior injury while serving before the war's outbreak. Discovered by Danish film actress Asta Nielsen, he made his film debut opposite her in the 1914 Urban Gad-directed comedy short Engelein (Little Angel), with Fred Immler and Hanns Kräly. He followed the success of this film with the sequel Engeleins Hochzeit (Little Angel's Wedding) in 1916. In the interim, Kastner quickly became a matinee idol in Germany, especially popular with female fans. The German press commented on Kastner's rise to stardom and how vexed postmen were having to transport love letters from fans to Kastner in laundry baskets. Kastner cemented his romantic image by appearing as the ardent suitor to popular actress Dorrit Weixler in a number of films of the era. Male filmgoers were less fond of Kastner's image of a handsome dandy and gave him the derisive nickname "Kleiderbügel" ("coat hanger") – a reference to his slim build and fashionable wardrobe. Although he didn't carry much clout with many male filmgoers, his popularity with female fans grew momentum. In 1921, Kastner was voted "The Best German Actor" in a magazine poll and he began appearing that year in a film serial called Der Silberkönig (The Silver King) opposite leading lady Ossi Oswalda. The following year, he founded his own film company. Other popular films of the era included roles in Fritz Lang's