Friedhelm Ortmann

Friedhelm Ortmann (* 1927 ) is a German radio play and theater director .

Life

Friedhelm Ortmann studied theater studies and music with a view to directing operas. But that never happened. From 1960 to 1968 he was head of the radio play department at WDR . There he met the television announcer Sonja Kurowsky . In 1965, he asked her a role in the radio play The wall of Dieter Forte to take over, and to marry him a year later. Another year later, on November 5, 1967, daughter Sandra was born.

During his time at WDR, Ortmann also worked as a freelance director for radio and theater, which is why he was often away from his family. After leaving in 1968, he worked exclusively as a freelance director.

Probably his best-known play is The Death of James Dean by Alfred Andersch (SWF / HR / RB, 1959). In 1961 his production of the radio play The Minotaur by Dieter Wellershoff (SDR, 1960) was awarded the renowned radio play prize of the war blind . He repeatedly worked with the greats of the art of acting: with Bernhard Minetti in the radio play Mensch aus Staub und Asche (based on André Obey ) and again in Thornton Wilder's three-minute plays in the radio play version . Hansjörg Felmy was his main actor in the stage adaptation of the Steinbeck classic Von Mäusen und Menschen in 1964 at the Hebbel Theater Berlin. On August 18, 1965, Ortmann directed the festival performance in honor of Tilla Durieux's 85th birthday at the same location. The jubilee had requested the play The Clairvoyant by André Roussin and embodied the title role. It also worked u. a. Emmy Burg and Wolfgang Völz with. Ortmann received consistently bad reviews here. The Süddeutsche Zeitung , for example, wrote: What one could call a production [...] absolutely did not take place. Only the newspaper of his homeland, the Rheinische Post , expressed itself benevolently.

Radio plays (selection)

• 1957: Hans Rothe : Father Mignon ( original radio play - WDR )
• 1969: Dieter Kühn : U-Boot-Spiel (radio play - WDR / SR / HR )
• 1985: Gertrude Stein : Doctor Faustus - electrified - (radio play ( artificial head ) - WDR)
• 1985: Arthur Schnitzler , Adele Sandrock : You with body and soul - you dog! (Adaptation and direction) (radio play adaptation - ORF / WDR) - first broadcast: September 22, 1985 | 89'36 minutes

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Anonymous: Sonja Kurowsky. The fairy tale fairy from Cologne. (Occupation: TV announcer (17)) . Funk Uhr , issue 2/1972, p. 8.
2. ^ Excerpts from conversation Friedhelm Ortmann / Reinhard Döhl .
3. ↑ hoerspieleipps.net  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Dora Fehling: The missed present. “The Clairvoyant” in the Hebbel Theater . Telegraf , August 20, 1965; Walther Karsch: A sign of poverty for Berlin. Tilla Durieux in André Roussin's “Clairvoyant” . Der Tagesspiegel , August 20, 1965; Hans Ulrich Kersten: In honor of Durieux. Premiere at the Hebbel Theater in West Berlin . Bremer Nachrichten , August 21, 1965; u. a.
5. ↑ Karena Niehoff: The hearing impaired clairvoyant. Tilla Durieux is playing a comedy by André Roussin in Berlin . Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 26, 1965.
6. ↑ WS: Queen of Clairvoyants. German Roussin premiere with Tilla Durieux . Rheinische Post , August 24, 1965.