Carl Balhaus
Carl Ballhaus, also Balhaus (* November 4, 1905 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, † 30 July 1968 in Eisenach ) was a German actor, screenwriter, director and theater director.
Life
1923, after graduating from school, Ballhaus began studying philology and German studies. Parallel to his studies, he took acting lessons at the Deutsches Theater, where he debuted small roles on stage. Upper director Erwin Piscator hired him in 1926 for his ensemble at the Volksbühne Berlin, where he worked until 1935 with many renowned theater directors.
His screen debut was in the silent film Ramper, the beast-man from 1926, where he appeared in a small role. . Was followed by some silent film classic and early sound films, such as The Blue Angel 1930 Ballhaus political commitment as an active union member, brought him - with the rise of the Nazis - limitations in the performance of his duties as an actor. So he received only minor roles in German film productions and theaters during the Nazi dictatorship.
After the end of World War II Ballhaus initially took a work as a director at the Munich Rundfunk was before he worked as a theater director in Coburg, Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, Bamberg and Dresden from 1946 to 1949. In Dresden, he was appointed chief director of the State Theatre, as caught up with him in 1953 DEFA director Martin Hellberg as an assistant director for the film The Ox of Kulm to Potsdam. His directorial debut was also at DEFA, where he directed six feature films and occasionally also appeared in supporting roles. The film The vicious circle of 1956 is now regarded as his most famous work. The project to film Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts with Klaus Kinski, failed because the DEFA could not pay the royalties. From 1964 until his death, in 1968 Carl Ballhaus was the director of the State Theatre Eisenach.
Ballhaus was married to the dancer Almut Dorowa. He is the father of actor Christian Ballhaus and the brother of director and actor Oskar Ballhaus, founder of the Frankish Theatre, and uncle of Hollywood cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.