Paul Verhoeven (director, 1901)

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Paulus Joseph "Paul" Verhoeven (born June 23, 1901 in Unna , † March 22, 1975 in Munich ) was a German actor , director , theater director and author .

Life

Family grave in the forest cemetery

Verhoeven grew up as the son of a haulier in simple circumstances and had thirteen siblings. After graduating from secondary school, he first wanted to become an architect and went to a school of arts and crafts, but was then persuaded by a friend to try acting. After his debut in Munich, he played in Dresden, Vienna and Frankfurt am Main, among others, gaining experience as an assistant director early on. He became a successful theater actor and director in the 1930s. In 1935 he wrote - together with Toni Impekoven - the libretto for the musical comedy The small Hofkonzert by Edmund Nick , which only a year later made into a film was.

From 1935 Verhoeven worked as a respected theater director at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. At the same time, he entered the film business in the mid-1930s: in 1936 he made his feature film debut as the bartender Billy in The Emperor of California ; In 1937 he directed his first film Die Fledermaus , based on the operetta of the same name by Johann Strauss . By 1972 he made over 60 other film and television productions, and by the end of the Second World War alone, 20 films were made under Verhoeven's direction. He spent the end of the war with his family on a farm near Coburg .

From 1945 to 1948 Verhoeven was artistic director at the Bavarian State Theater . He later worked for many years as theater director at the Münchener Kammerspiele . He was influenced by a realism in the style of Hans Schweikart that was characteristic of the Munich Kammerspiele . In addition to his work as a director and author, Verhoeven also remained an actor who also worked under other directors. In his obituary, Der Spiegel wrote that the stocky Verhoeven had never been, "what one calls a star, but he kept the second roles he played free from all the hard work that his stature could have seduced him into."

In 1949 he founded his own film production company, whose first film You are not alone with Carola Höhn and Peter Pasetti . It told the story of a young woman who was waiting with her son for the child's father to return from the war. The following year Verhoeven shot at DEFA with The Cold Heart , based on the fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff , his most famous film today. It exceeded the budget, which was expensive anyway, yet again, the film in Agfacolor was a great success with the public and later also won a lot of critical acclaim. Verhoeven later concentrated on directing work in the FRG and shot there with the biggest stars, such as Liselotte Pulver and OW Fischer in the Heidelberger Romance (1951), Bernhard Wicki in the Johann Strauss biopic Ewiger Walzer (1954), Ruth Leuwerik and Curd Jürgens in Die goldene Brücke (1956) and Heinz Rühmann in Der Jugendrichter (1960). From the 1960s onwards, he was also active as a director for the increasingly popular television.

Family and personal life

Verhoeven was married to the actress Doris Kiesow , with whom he had children Lis, Michael and Monika. He is the father of the film director Michael Verhoeven and the actress Lis Verhoeven , the father-in-law of the actors Mario Adorf and Senta Berger and the grandfather of the actors Stella Maria Adorf , Luca Verhoeven and Simon Verhoeven . From the relationship with the actress Edith Schultze-Westrum comes the son Thomas Schultze-Westrum , who is a zoologist and behavioral scientist.

Paul Verhoeven died of heart failure at the age of 73 during the memorial service for the recently deceased actress Therese Giehse . He was sitting at a table on the stage of the Münchner Kammerspiele and had just uttered the first sentences of her obituary when he suddenly collapsed dead. Verhoeven rests in the forest cemetery in Munich / Alter Teil next to his wife in grave no. 95-W-3.

Filmography (selection)

As a director, unless otherwise stated:

Film documentaries

  • The Verhoevens . Documentary by Felix Moeller , Germany 2003, 75 minutes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): 1973: Interview with Paul Verhoeven | DW | 31/01/2014. Retrieved on November 21, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ Three generations of directing and acting. June 17, 2003, accessed November 21, 2019 .
  3. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): 1973: Interview with Paul Verhoeven | DW | 31/01/2014. Retrieved on November 21, 2019 (German).
  4. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): 1973: Interview with Paul Verhoeven | DW | 31/01/2014. Retrieved on November 21, 2019 (German).
  5. ↑ n-tv NEWS: Michael Verhoeven, the political director. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Three generations of directing and acting. June 17, 2003, accessed November 21, 2019 .
  7. ↑ DIED: Paul Verhoeven . In: Spiegel Online . tape March 14 , 1975 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 21, 2019]).
  8. ↑ DIED: Paul Verhoeven . In: Spiegel Online . tape March 14 , 1975 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 21, 2019]).
  9. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): 1973: Interview with Paul Verhoeven | DW | 31/01/2014. Retrieved on November 21, 2019 (German).
  10. ↑ DIED: Paul Verhoeven . In: Spiegel Online . tape March 14 , 1975 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 21, 2019]).


personal data
SURNAME Verhoeven, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Verhoeven, Paulus Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor, director, theater director and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Unna
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1975
Place of death Munich