From Wikipedia
Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Long on the stage with a varied Broadway career before entering movies he appeared with James O'Neill in The Count of Monte Cristo (1893), The Lion and the Mouse (1906) with Richard Bennett, The Third Degree (1909) with Helen Ware, The Master Mind (1913) with Elliott Dexter, the popular World War I era play Why Marry? (1917) with Estelle Winwood & Nat C. Goodwin and So This Is London (1922) with Donald Gallaher. He appeared in 129 films between 1914 and 1935. He is best remembered as the advice-giving German businessman at the beginning of the war film All Quiet on the Western Front.
His final role was on stage in Night of January 16th from September 1935 to April 1936. Just before the play ended its run, Breese developed peritonitis, which he died from on April 6, 1936.
