Ellen Jens
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ellen Jens (6 October 1940 – 17 November 2023) was a Dutch television director and producer, best known for her collaboration with
Wim T. Schippers Willem Theodoor "Wim T." Schippers (; born 1 July 1942) is a Dutch artist, comedian, television director, and voice actor. During the 1960s, he worked mostly as a visual artist, associated with the international Fluxus-movement. As a television ...
on
VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for ''Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep'', lit. 'Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcaster', nowadays known as ''Omroepvereniging VPRO'') is a Netherlands, Dutch Public broadcasting, public broadca ...
television. She produced and directed a large number of other television shows, especially on literature and art, and was referred to as a "television legend".


Early life and career

Ellen Jens was born in
Wassenaar Wassenaar (; population: in ) is a municipality and town located in the province of South Holland, on the western coast of the Netherlands. An affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies north of that city on the N44/A44 highway near the Nort ...
on 6 October 1940.Death notice
In the early 1970s Jens was a "scriptgirl" working for the
VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for ''Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep'', lit. 'Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcaster', nowadays known as ''Omroepvereniging VPRO'') is a Netherlands, Dutch Public broadcasting, public broadca ...
. Starting in 1972 she began working with
Wim T. Schippers Willem Theodoor "Wim T." Schippers (; born 1 July 1942) is a Dutch artist, comedian, television director, and voice actor. During the 1960s, he worked mostly as a visual artist, associated with the international Fluxus-movement. As a television ...
, producing his shows from 1972 ('' De Fred Hachéshow'') to 1994 (''
We zijn weer thuis ''We zijn weer thuis'' (''Back home again'') is a Dutch Comedy drama, dramady-series broadcast by VPRO from 1989 to 1994. It was written by Wim T. Schippers and co-directed with Ellen Jens as his swansong-series for VPRO. The series was released ...
''); on many of the shows she is credited as a director and writer as well. Jens produced and directed ''Hier is Adriaan van Dis'', the talk show hosted by
Adriaan van Dis Adriaan van Dis (Bergen aan Zee, 16 December 1946) is a Dutch author. He debuted in 1983 with the novella ''Nathan Sid''. In 1995 his book ''Indische Duinen'' (''My Father's War''), which in its narrative is a follow-up to his debut novella, wa ...
(which ran from 1983 to 1992), and was the producer of the long-running VPRO TV show '' Jiskefet'' and the Schippers series on popular science ''Flogiston''. For presenter Hanneke Groenteman, she produced the talk show on art ''De Plantage'', from 1994 to 2001. From 2005 onwards she produced the TV show ''VPRO Boeken'', a program on literature hosted by Wim Brands, for which she also designed the set (modeled on the set for ''De Plantage'', taped in the Studio Plantage in Artis, in turn modeled on her own house); she was picked (as a "television legend") for her experience with literature, based in part on her work with Adriaan van Dis.


Personal life

In the early 1970s she dated
Hugo Claus Hugo Maurice Julien Claus (; 5 April 1929 – 19 March 2008) was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, novels, and poetry; he also lef ...
, at the time when he promoted his novel ''Het jaar van de kreeft''; Claus and Jens were photographed together as part of a campaign to promote the book, which had Claus's love life as its main topic. She lived with Wim T. Schippers in the 1970s and 1980s and later married him. Jens died in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
on 17 November 2023, at the age of 83.


Select filmography

Entries marked with an asterisk are with Wim T. Schippers *''
Zomergasten ''Zomergasten'' ("Summer guests", an allusion to migratory birds) is a Dutch television programme broadcast each summer by public broadcaster VPRO. The programme was first aired in 1988. Each episode takes up an entire Sunday evening. It consis ...
'' *''Flogiston''* *''
We zijn weer thuis ''We zijn weer thuis'' (''Back home again'') is a Dutch Comedy drama, dramady-series broadcast by VPRO from 1989 to 1994. It was written by Wim T. Schippers and co-directed with Ellen Jens as his swansong-series for VPRO. The series was released ...
''* (47 episodes, 1989–1994) *''De bruine jurk''* (TV play, 1988) *''Sans Rancune''* (TV play, 1987) *''
Going to the Dogs ''Going to the Dogs'' is a 1986 play by Dutch writer, artist, and television director Wim T. Schippers. It premiered on 19 September to a sell-out audience in the Stadsschouwburg (Amsterdam), Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam, with six German Shepherds, ...
''* (TV production, 1986) *''
Plafond over de vloer ''Plafond over de vloer'' is a Dutch television show in nine episodes, aired in 1986 by the VPRO and written and directed by Wim T. Schippers. It derives from the radio show '' Ronflonflon'', and its main character is that show's host, Jacques Pl ...
''* (9 episodes, 1986) *''
Opzoek naar Yolanda ''Opzoek naar Yolanda'' was a Dutch dramady television show by Wim T. Schippers, consisting of six episodes aired by the VPRO from October to December 1984. The show (a parody of sitcoms and soap operas, like most of Schippers' shows) was a contin ...
''* (6 episodes, 1984) *''
De lachende scheerkwast ''De lachende scheerkwast'' ("The laughing shave brush") is a Dutch television show written and directed by Wim T. Schippers, who also plays one of the lead characters, Jacques Plafond. It ran on VPRO television for six episodes in 1981 before bei ...
''* (12 episodes, 1981–1982) *''Ramp Ahead''* (TV movie, 1980) *''De dans der vierkanten waarin opgenomen Elly, of het beroemde stuk''* (TV production of
Holland Festival The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and architec ...
opening, 1980) *''VerhagenCadabra'' (5 episodes, 1979) *''
Het is weer zo laat! ''Het is weer zo laat!'' ("It's that time again!"), also known as ''Waldolala'', is a Dutch television show from 1978, written and directed by Wim T. Schippers and co-produced by Schippers, Gied Jaspars, Wim van der Linden en Ellen Jens. It was ...
''* (10 episodes, 1978) *''Cross Now''* (1977) *''Ninette de Valois (mag ik mijn grijze mapje terug)''* (1976) *''Grote Genade''* (1976) *'' Echo's uit het alpendal''* (1976) *'' De ondergang van de Onan''* (1976) *''Volk en vaderliefde''* (1975) *''Het grote gebeuren'' (1975) *'' Van Oekel's Discohoek''* (1974) *'' Barend is weer bezig''* (5 episodes, 1972–1973) *''
De Fred Haché Show ''De Fred Haché Show'' is a 1971 Dutch television show written and directed for the VPRO by Wim T. Schippers, Ruud van Hemert, Wim van der Linden, and Gied Jaspars. The show marked the return to television for Schippers, van der Linden, and J ...
''* (1972)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jens, Ellen 1940 births 2023 deaths Dutch television directors Dutch television producers Dutch television show creators Dutch satirists Dutch women satirists Dutch satirical television show creators Women television directors Dutch women television producers 20th-century Dutch women People from Wassenaar