The True Viking

When choosing to become an actor Max Oppenheimer was compelled by his father, who feared for the family's reputation, to change his name. So as he was well advised to keep his initials Max Openheimer became Max Ophüls. Years later a man called at his house in Vienna, a lawyer from Düsseldorf with a long white beard and spectacles. And this man was utterly convinced that Max must be stemming from the Viking branch of his family, the family Ophüls, and,...

Max Ophüls

as Ophüls would later comment in his autobiography, inspite of his looks.