Albert Bassermann was born September 7, 1867 in Mannheim. After finishing secondary school, he studied chemistry at the University of Strasbourg. Later, he worked as a chemist at the pulp mill in Waldhof. This was followed by a traineeship at the Theater Mannheim in 1887 and engagements at several provincial theaters, including the Meininger Hoftheater (1891). From 1895, he worked in Berlin, where he collaborated with Otto Brahms (Deutsches Theater 1899-1904, Lessing Theater 1904-1909) and Max Reinhardt (Deutsches Theater 1909-1915).

Arguably the most eminent German actor of the early 20th century, Bassermann was one of the first to make the tabooed transition from stage to screen: 1912/13 he starred in Max Mack's Jekyll and Hyde version "Der Andere" ("The Other"), based on the play by Paul Lindau. Bassermann has starred in more than 40 silent and sound films, including movies directed by William Wauer, Adolf Gärtner, and Richard Oswald. After his time with Reinhardt, Bassermann did not sign another ensemble contract. Instead, he toured through Germany and other European countries, usually accompanied by his wife Else Schiff, whom he had married in 1908.

In 1933, Bassermann left Germany and moved to Switzerland. In 1934, he officially announced his emigration. During the following years, Bassermann intermittently worked at theaters in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In 1939, he went to the USA, where he started off his Hollywood career with a small part as Robert Koch in Dieterle's "The Story of Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet". For his perfomance in Alfred Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), Bassermann received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In Richard Oswald's "Passport to Heaven", he portrayed a gentle Captain of Köpenick. Bassermann made his Broadway debut in 1944. From 1946, he continued to work at European theaters. In 1951, he gave his last performance in Germany on the occasion of the reopening of the Schiller Theater in Berlin.

He died May 15, 1952 in Zurich.