Person Biography:
Bruno Frank was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1887 to a family with a long line of physicians and bankers. His father and grandfather were both bankers. He attended a preparatory school in Stuttgart and then transferred to a college in Thuringia. He received a Doctor's degree in philosophy and literature from the University of Tubingen.
Frank published his first book, a collection of poems, at the age of 18. He soon moved to Munich, which was considered the most cosmopolitan city in Germany at the time, and became involved in the literary scene. He befriended notable authors such as Frank Wedekind, Rainer Maria Rilke, Wilhelm Speyer, and Lion Feuchtwanger, and developed a lifelong friendship with Thomas Mann.
During World War I, Frank enlisted in the German army and saw action on the Russian front. He was severely wounded and spent several years recovering at his home in Bavaria. After his recovery, he embarked on a successful career as a novelist and playwright, adapting and translating plays for the German stage by foreign authors such as Marcel Pagnol, Noël Coward, and Sacha Guitry.
Frank was alarmed by the growing power of the Nazi movement led by Adolf Hitler and after the Reichstag fire in 1933, he and his family left Germany. They lived in Switzerland and France before moving to Austria, but eventually left Europe in 1937 for the US, where he had been offered a position by a Hollywood studio.
Bruno Frank passed away on June 20, 1945, in Beverly Hills, CA, due to complications from heart disease.
