Max Hansen (22 December 1897 – 12 November 1961) was a Danish singer known as "The Little Caruso," as well as a cabaret artist, actor, and comedian. Hansen was born Max Josef Haller in Mannheim, Imperial Germany, as the illegitimate child of Danish actress Eva Haller and a Jewish father, or, according to other sources, a Swedish officer named Schürer von Waldheim. He was raised by foster parents in Munich, where he made his first appearance at the Cabaret Simplizissimus at the age of 17.
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Max Hansen (22 December 1897 – 12 November 1961) was a Danish singer known as "The Little Caruso," as well as a cabaret artist, actor, and comedian. Hansen was born Max Josef Haller in Mannheim, Imperial Germany, as the illegitimate child of Danish actress Eva Haller and a Jewish father, or, according to other sources, a Swedish officer named Schürer von Waldheim. He was raised by foster parents in Munich, where he made his first appearance at the Cabaret Simplizissimus at the age of 17. In 1914, he moved to Vienna, performing in various smaller theatres as a singer and comedian. In 1924, Hansen originated the tenor role of Baron Kolomán Zsupán in Gräfin Mariza at Hubert Marischka's Theater an der Wien in Vienna. After 900 performances, the production transferred to the Metropoltheater in Berlin. In Berlin, Hansen co-founded the Kabarett der Komiker with Paul Morgan and Kurt Robitschek. He worked with Max Reinhardt on a revival of Offenbach's La belle Hélène and with Erik Charell on a production of Lehar's The Merry Widow. His most notable stage role was as Leopold the waiter in Ralph Benatzky's operetta-musical The White Horse Inn, a role he also played in Richard Oswald's 1926 silent film adaptation. In 1932, Hansen provoked the ire of the Nazis with his satirical song "War'n Sie schon mal in mich verliebt?" ("Have you ever been in love with me?"), which implied Adolf Hitler was homosexual. That same year, he also parodied opera and operetta soprano Gitta Alpár in a drag performance captured on film. In 1933, he returned to Vienna, performing again at the Theater an der Wien. In 1936, he met Zarah Leander during a Scandinavian tour and made her his stage partner in Vienna. After Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938, Hansen emigrated to Denmark, where he founded his own theatre in Copenhagen. In 1951, Hansen returned to Germany and reprised the role of Leopold in The White Horse Inn in Hamburg and at Berlin's Theater am Nollendorfplatz. He moved back to Copenhagen in 1953 and remained there until his death in 1961. Hansen was married to Austrian actress Lizzi Waldmüller, and later to Britta Hansen after 1939. He had four children, including his son Max Hansen Jr., born in 1954, who also became an actor. In 2004, German director Douglas Wolfsperger portrayed Hansen in the documentary War'n Sie schon mal in mich verliebt?.
