Marian had also appeared in movies like Curtis Bernhardt's Der Tunnel since 1933, and had his breakthrough starring together with Zarah Leander in 1937's La Habanera, directed by Douglas Sirk.
Marian's career was overshadowed by his appearance as the title character in Jud Süß, an antisemitic German movie directed by Veit Harlan.
[4] Knilli's assertions match those of director Veit Harlan, who claimed in a war crimes trial that he was coerced by Goebbles into making the film, and attempted to minimize or sanitize the antisemitic elements to little avail.
It is said that he was on his way to Munich with a borrowed car to collect denazification papers that with the permission of US film officer Eric Pleskow would allow him to work again, having celebrated this news just beforehand.
Marian is played by Tobias Moretti in the 2010 film Jew Suss: Rise and Fall, a biopic about the production and release of Jud Süß, based on Friedrich Knilli's biography.
The film takes many liberties with the true story, fictionalizing Marian's personal life by combining his two wives into a single character, and expanding the role of Julius Gellner (renamed 'Wilhelm Adolf Deutscher').