Oskar Ballhaus

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Oskar Ballhaus

Oskar Ballhaus (born June 24, 1908 in Mülheim an der Ruhr , † October 6, 1972 in Munich ) was a German actor, theater director , founder and theater director of his Franconian theater .

Life

Ballhaus was married to his colleague Lena Hutter (1911–2003) for the first time. From this marriage came the Hollywood cameraman Michael Ballhaus (1935-2017) and the family therapist Nele Maar (* 1938), née Ballhaus. The couple divorced in the early 1950s. In his second marriage, Ballhaus married the actress Anneliese Wert (1922–2008). The children's book illustrator Verena Ballhaus comes from this marriage . Oskar's brother was the theater and film actor Carl Ballhaus , who later became theater director in Eisenach and stayed in the GDR .

Ballhaus did his acting training at the Folkwang School in Essen . Before the Second World War , he worked like his wife Lena in Berlin as a theater actor and also a lot for the radio.

The actors and actresses Ballhaus / Hutter were close to the communists. The family's Berlin apartment was a meeting place for artists and intellectuals who were in opposition to the Nazis . At times, a Jewish friend of the parents was hidden in the apartment.

In 1943 the wife and children were moved to a relative in Coburg in Upper Franconia , where the family stayed for a few years after the war. There the couple gathered a number of artists, mostly actors, and founded the “Coburg Culture Circle” for readings , recitations and musical performances. So they brought u. a. Georg Solti to one of his first concerts in post-war Germany in Coburg. Since Ballhaus and Hutter were politically unencumbered, the American occupiers gave them permission to perform.

On April 17, 1946, the couple founded the “Franconian Theater”, which moved to Wetzhausen Castle in 1948 , Stöckach Castle in 1954 and finally Maßbach Castle in 1960 , where it still operates successfully today. Ballhaus wanted to run a theater that lives from the spirit of community. Despite the divorce from his first wife Lena Hutter, who later married her colleague Herbert Heinz , both continued to run their theater together. The "Franconian Theater" remained Ballhaus's purpose in life until his death and became the center of an entire dynasty of artists.

To this dynasty belongs u. a. Son Michael Ballhaus, who started his career as a theater photographer at the "Fränkisches Theater". Son-in-law Paul Maar (* 1937), children's book and theater author as well as Sam's inventor, made his first experiences as a set designer , graphic artist and photographer at the “Franconian Theater” . His daughter Anne Maar , herself a children's book author and director, has been running the “Franconian Theater Schloss Maßbach” for several years in the tradition of her grandfather Oskar Ballhaus.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Käthe Jowanowitsch, Stephanie Rapp: "Don't speak ..." - cameraman Michael Ballhaus on war and liberation

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ballhaus, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theater director, director and actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Mülheim an der Ruhr
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1972
Place of death Munich