Gustav Diessl was an Austrian artist, film and stage actor. He studied art, painting and sculpture in Vienna. From 1921 he worked in Berlin as an actor for G.W. Pabst in his silent film, "Abgründe" (1928). In 1929 he played in Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü (1929) ("The White Hell of Pitz Palu"). After that he became famous in USA, but returned to Germany after making only one film in Hollywood. He also played in Italian films. After a short-lived first marriage, he cohabited with Camilla Horn for a couple of years, but in 1938 he married opera star Maria Cebotari, with who he had two sons; one of them lives today in England and the other one in New Zealand. Gustav Diessl died, much too young,in Vienna.