Martin Hellberg (also known as Martin Heinrich, 31 January 1905 – 31 October 1999) was a German actor, director and writer.

Life

Martin Hellberg was born in 1905 in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, as a son of a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

. From 1922 to 1924, Martin Hellberg studied at the ''Dresdner Konservatorium''. He was a pupil of the director Georg Kiesau. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party (KPD). From 1924 until 1933, he worked at the ''Staatlichen Schauspielhaus Dresden'' (theater). However, he was fired by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1933. He first worked as a freelance director and then became a senior director in Freiburg im Breisgau. Afterwards, the Nazis forbade him to appear on stage again. In 1935, Hellberg made his first appearance as a film actor in ''Die blonde Carmen''. In 1952, following his debut as a director in '' The Condemned Village'', he received the International Peace Prize for this film. In 1958, he was the director and writer of the movie ''

Emilia Galotti ''Emilia Galotti'' () is a play in five acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), which premiered on 8 March 1772 in Braunschweig, Brunswick (''Braunschweig'' in German). The work is an example of German ''bürgerliches Trauerspiel'' (bourg ...

''. In 1959, he directed and wrote ''Kabale und Liebe'', in which he also appeared as an actor. In 1962, he was the director and an actor in the film ''Minna von Barnhelm oder Das Soldatenglück''. In 1964, he wrote and directed the movie '' Viel Lärm um nichts''. In 1981, he appeared as Professor Reinhardt in the movie '' Mephisto'', which was awarded with the 1981

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. Martin Hellberg was married to Berta Gurewitsch from 1926 to 1935. Then Gurewitsch emigrated to then- British Mandate of Palestine (now

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

) together with their son Yigal Tumarkin. Tumarkin's youngest son and Hellberg's grandson Yon Tumarkin is a well known Israeli actor. After his marriage with Gurwitsch, Hellberg got to know his second wife Ruth Baldor. Baldor was an actress and appeared in several of Hellberg's films. The couple separated at the end of the sixties. During his last years as a writer, director and actor, Hellberg worked and lived in Bad Berka near Weimar.

Neues Deutschland (, , abbr. nd) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquarters, headquartered in Berlin. For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which governed East Germany (officially known as the ...

, 7. März 1980, S. 2

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hellberg, Martin German male film actors 1905 births 1999 deaths 20th-century German male actors East German actors Male actors from Dresden German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine