Hugo Thimig

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Hugo Thimig (1912). Photo by Wenzl Weis
Hugo Thimig
Grave site in the Sieveringen cemetery

Hugo August Thimig (born June 16, 1854 in Dresden ; † September 24, 1944 in Vienna ) was a German - Austrian actor , director and theater director.

Life

Thimig is the progenitor of one of the most famous Austrian theater families, even though the native Saxon did not come to Vienna until 1874 to start his engagement at the Burgtheater at the age of twenty . Before that, the son of a Dresden glove maker had completed an apprenticeship in a grocery store and attended business school during the apprenticeship.

After several appearances on an amateur stage in his hometown, he made his professional debut at the Bautzen City Theater in October 1872 . Within only two years he got his engagement on the famous Viennese stage through the theaters of Zittau , Kamenz , Freiberg and the Breslauer Lobe-Theater . A week before his 20th birthday, he made his debut at the “Burg” as Didier in Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer's Die Grille .

Thimig started out as a "shy lover", but soon switched to comic and serious character subjects . He quickly made a career. As early as 1881 he was appointed court advisor, in 1897 he was entrusted with his first director, and from 1912 to 1917 he was also director of the Burgtheater, where he had long had a lifelong contract with pension entitlement.

After his retirement in 1924, at the age of seventy, he moved to the Vienna Theater in der Josefstadt , headed by his future son-in-law Max Reinhardt , where he stayed until 1933, when, at the age of almost eighty, he finally retired into private life. The theater in der Josefstadt was only called the “Thimig-Theater” by the Viennese in the 1920s, because his three acting children were also involved in addition to the father, initially Helene Thimig , Reinhardt's then partner and later wife, and her one year younger brother Hermann Thimig . In the course of this year the youngest of the siblings, Hans Thimig , came to the Josefstadt. From then on, the entire family always worked either in the Burgtheater or in the theater in der Josefstadt.

Thimig was a passionate collector - his collection of documents and objects related to the theater forms the basis of the collections of the Austrian Theater Museum in the Lobkowitz Palace in Vienna.

He was married to Franziska, called Fanny, geb. Hummel (1867–1944) and had three sons with her, Hermann , Friedrich, Hans and a daughter, Helene , all of whom, with the exception of Fritz, who became a farmer, started acting.

Since he no longer wanted to live without his wife, Thimig committed suicide with veronal two days after Fanny Thimig's death . His grave is on the Sieveringer Friedhof in Vienna (Department 2, Group 13, Number 76), next to his wife.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

literature

  • Franz Hadamowsky (Ed.): Hugo Thimig tells of his life and the theater of his time. Letters and diary notes. Böhlau, Graz et al. 1962.
  • Arthur Kahane : The Thimigs. Theater as the fate of a family. Erich Weibezahl, Leipzig 1930.
  • Hans Thimig: Curious how I am. Memories. Amalthea, Vienna et al. 1983, ISBN 3-85002-182-3 .
  • Gwendolyn von Ambesser : The rats enter the sinking ship. The absurd life of the actor Leo Reuss. Edition AV, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-936049-47-5 .

Web links

Commons : Hugo Thimig  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 611.
personal data
SURNAME Thimig, Hugo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thimig, Hugo August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian theater actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1944
Place of death Vienna