Paul Weisenfreund (Muni) was born in Lemberg, Austria, on 22nd September, 1895. Muni, who was Jewish, emigrated to the United States and established himself on the Yiddish stage.

He appeared in his first film, Seven Faces, in 1929. This was the start of a long successful career that included Academy Award nominations for The Valiant (1929), I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and The Last Angry Man (1959). Paul Muni died in 1967.