AllMovie

Wispy-looking, soft-spoken Austrian character actor Christian Rub made his first Hollywood film appearance in 1932. For the next 20 years, Rub played a variety of functional roles (innkeepers, peasant farmers, musicians, janitors) in a variety of accents (usually German or Swedish). Many of his roles were small but memorable, such as his brief turn as the melodic coachman who inspires Johann Strauss (Fernand Gravet) to compose Tales From the Vienna Woods in The Great Waltz (1938). Christian Rub's most lasting contribution to cinema was as the voice and physical inspiration for Geppetto in the 1940 Disney cartoon feature Pinocchio.