Frederick Hollander's Real Name: Friedrich Hollaender

Quick answer: Frederick Hollander's real name was Friedrich Hollaender (also spelled Holländer). He was born on October 18, 1896, in London, and used Frederick Hollander after emigrating to the United States.

[IMAGE: credited archival photo of Friedrich Hollaender / Frederick Hollander, with credit]

Hollaender and Hollander

PBS Cinema's Exiles, Deutsche Biographie, and filmportal identify Friedrich Hollaender as the birth/professional name in Germany and Frederick Hollander as the Hollywood form (PBS; Deutsche Biographie; filmportal). He was born in London to a theatrical family, raised largely in Berlin, and became a central songwriter of Weimar cabaret and film.

His most famous credit is the score and songs for Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel, 1930), including "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt," known in English as "Falling in Love Again," introduced on screen by Marlene Dietrich (PBS; official Hollander music site).

Exile and Hollywood

As a Jewish artist, Hollaender left Germany after the Nazi takeover, working in Paris and then Hollywood. Under the name Frederick Hollander he composed for U.S. films and continued songwriting while remaining linked to the Berlin cabaret tradition. He later returned to Germany for stage work. He died January 18, 1976, in Munich (Deutsche Biographie; filmportal).

[IMAGE: credited Blue Angel still featuring Marlene Dietrich, with studio/archive credit]

Amazon note (tag realname1-20): The Blue Angel home-video editions and Weimar cabaret compilations are natural slots.

In Berlin, Hollaender wrote for the Tingel-Tangel and other cabarets, collaborating with writers in the sharp satirical tradition of the late Weimar years. Hollywood assignments after exile kept him employed even when studios struggled to place European émigré composers. Returning later to Germany, he found renewed stage interest in the old songs (PBS; Deutsche Biographie). Friedrich Hollaender / Frederick Hollander is a classic exile anglicization story.