Read an interesting book last year on the making of Casablanca, it said that fact was crucial to the believeability of the supporting characters. In real life, many of them had already fled Europe during the previous decade for the same reasons as the people they portrayed, using their family jewelry and precious stones to barter their way to America.
All the featured players in the film who got
screen credit, only 3 were born in the United States:
Humphrey Bogart (Rick) /
Dooley Wilson (Sam) /
Joy Page (Annina Brandel, the young
Bulgarian refugee)
Major roles ~ Screen credited
Humphrey Bogart : New York, New York
Dooley Wilson : Tyler, Texas
Joy Paige (wife of roulette player) : Los Angeles, California
Ingrid Bergman : Sweden
Paul Hernried : Trieste, Austria-Hungary
~ full name = Paul Georg Julius Freiherr von Hernried Ritter von Wasel-Waldingau
Claude Rains : London, England
Conrad Veidt : Berlin, Germany
~ full name = Hans Walter Conrad Veidt
Sydney Greenstreet : Kent, England
Peter Lorre : Rózsahegy, Kingdom of Hungary (now Ružomberok, Slovakia)
~ nee = László Löwenstein
Madeleine Lebeau (Yvonne) * : Antony, France
Appearing roles / Uncredited
Marcel Dalio (roulette croupier) * : Paris, France
~ * actual husband & wife **
Curt Bois (pickpocket) : Berlin, Germany
Gerald Oliver Smith (Englishman pickpocket victim) : Kent, England
Norma Varden (Englishwoman wife of pickpocket victim) : London, England
Leonid Kinskey (bartender) : St. Petersburg, Russia
John Qualen (Resistance contact) : Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
S. Z. Sakall (Carl - waiter) : Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Helmut Dantine (roulette player) : Vienna, Austria
Gregory Gaye (German banker / refused entry by Rick) : St. Petersburg, Russia
Torben Meyer (Dutch banker) : Copenhagen, Denmark
Corinna Mura (female guitarist) : Mexico City, Mexico
Frank Puglia (rug merchant) : Linguaglossa, Sicily, Italy
Richard Ryen (Col. Heinze, Strasser's aide) : Főherczeglak, Hungary (today Kneževo, Croatia)
Dan Seymour (Abdul the doorman) Chicago, Ill.
** Close to the premise of the film (life is stranger than fiction)... wikipedia...
Dalio and Lebeau left Paris ahead of the invading Germans army, the couple traveled on
transit visas thru Spain to Lisbon, Portugal.
It took them two months to get visas to Chile. Their voyage on the S.S. Quanza, stopped
in Mexico, and stranded with 200+/- other passengers (the Chilean visas turned out to
be forgeries). Via temporary Canadian passports they entered the United States.
All other members of Dalio's family died in Nazi concentration camps.
:>---
SALT