Trivia

Chubby, beaming character comedian, a star of Berlin cabaret in the 1920's. Used in films as comedy relief, he was usually cast as the archetypal jovial fat man. Found work scarce after the national socialists came to power in 1933, and moved back to Austria where he appeared under his real surname, Teddy Kern.

The actor Teddy Bill was a real comedian whose talents were already used for the big screen in the silent movie era.

He worked successfully as a racing car driver and won 16 prizes.

He served as a war volunteer in World War I in 1917/18 and afterwards then trained as an actor at the Imperial-Royal Theresian Academy.

After the war and took part in Austian movies like "Schicksal in Ketten" (1946), "Wiener Melodien" (1947), "Das singende Haus" (1948) and "Lambert fühlt sich bedroht" (1949).

In 1920 Bill began his theater career at cabaret stages in Vienna.

In 1925 he went to Berlin, where he appeared with couplets in numerous cabaret performances.

After the annexation of Austria, the Nazis found out in the spring of 1939 that Kern's mother's husband was Jewish. However, he was able to prove that this was not his father, whereupon he was allowed to continue as Hans Kern with a few tiny roles.