Joseph Schildkraut (March 22, 1896 - January 21, 1964) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian stage and film actor.

Born in Vienna, Austria, Schildkraut was the son of popular stage (and later motion picture) actor Rudolf Schildkraut. The younger Schildkraut moved to the United States in the early 1900's. He appeared in many Broadway productions. Among the plays that he starred in was a notable production of Peer Gynt. In 1921, he played the title role in the first American stage production of Ferenc Molnar's Liliom, the play that would eventually become the basis for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. He then began working in silent movies, although he did return to the stage occasionally. He had early success in film as the Chevalier de Vaudrey in D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm with Lillian Gish. Later, he was featured in Cecil B. DeMille's epic 1927 film The King of Kings, as Judas Iscariot. Schildraut's father Rudolf also appeared in the film. Joseph Schildkraut also played a Viennese-accented, non-singing Gaylord Ravenal in the 1929 part-talkie film version of Edna Ferber's Show Boat.

He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Alfred Dreyfus in The Life of Emile Zola (1937). He gained further fame for playing the ambitious duc d'Orléans in the historical epic Marie Antoinette (1938), opposite Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore and Robert Morley. He is also remembered for playing the role of Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). He was also an active character actor, and appeared in guest roles on several early television shows, notably the Hallmark Hall of Fame, in which he played Claudius in the 1953 television production of Hamlet, with Maurice Evans in the title role. He also appeared on two episodes of The Twilight Zone.

Schildkraut was married three times. He died in New York, New York. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6780 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California.

The final broadcast was on 21 January 1954.

This anthology series was created as Dumont's prestige production for it's fledgling network. DuMont wanted to creat a "class" image for themselves with the noted actor but unfortunately they didn't have the budget to provide either the scripts or the production values required to attract an audience and it was yanked after just 3 months on the air. Also known as PERSONAL APPEARANCE THEATRE.

Schildkraut's second wife (of 29 years) died during the 3-day filming of the third-season finale of "Twilight Zone, The" (1959), "The Trade-Ins" in 1962. Coming from a theatrical family, he insisted on finishing the production before he'd begin mourning. In the episode, he plays an elderly man who must choose between a new body for himself or living the rest of his life with his wife in a pain-wracked body; Schildkraut's personal torments add even more poignancy to one of the Twilight Zone's best episodes.

Son of actor Rudolph Schildkraut.

First non-American actor to win an Oscar as "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" (Life of Emile Zola, The (1937))

Second cousin of the late Blanche Schildkraut Klein, maternal grandmother of Vicki Roberts (II).