Gustaf Gründgens (December 22, 1899 - October 7, 1963) was one of Germany's most famous actors of the 20th century. His single most famous role was that of Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust, which is by many still considered having been the best interpretation of the role ever given. December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years). ... Events January-February January 11 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened. ... The Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 26, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Faust is the protagonist of a popular German tale that has been used as the basis for many different fictional works. ...

Gründgens was also involved in one of the most famous literary cases of 20th century Germany, as the subject of a book by Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann, who wrote a novel entitled "Mephisto", which was a barely veiled bellicose account of the life of Gründgens. The book portrayed its main character as having shady connections with the Nazi regime. A lawsuit ensued as well as a controversy about libel and the freedom of fiction. Anyhow, their relation was a complicated one, since Gründgens was at one point married to Erika Mann, Klaus' sister, and the three had together worked in the theater, and both men have been homosexuals, a topic avoided in the novel. Klaus Mann (November 18, 1906–May 22, 1949) was a German writer. ... Thomas Mann (June 6, 1875–August 12, 1955) was a German novelist and essayist, lauded principally for a series of highly symbolic and often ironic epic novels and mid-length stories, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and intellectual and an underlying eroticism informed by Mann... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ... The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... Erika Julia Hedwig Mann (November 9, 1905 - August 27, 1969) was the daughter of novelist Thomas Mann. ... For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed... Homosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love, or sexual desire exclusively for another of the same sex. ...