Joseph Offenbach was born on December 28, 1904 in Offenbach am Main, and died on October 15, 1971 in Darmstadt. Besides the movies he especially impersonated impressive roles at the theater and became a preferred actor by Gustaf Gründgens. Though of small stature and unremarkable in appearance, Offenbach possessed a larger-than-life personality, at his best in sympathetic portrayals of the ordinary little man.