- Born
- Died
- Michael Ballhaus was a German cinematographer. He worked on many American films, including Baby It's You (1983), Old Enough (1984), After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Departed (2006).
Ballhaus was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for Broadcast News (1987), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), and Gangs of New York (2002), but never won.
His son Florian Ballhaus is also a cinematographer who worked on Flightplan (2005) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
Ballhaus died on 11 April 2017, at the age of 81.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges - The son of a theater actor couple grew up in Coburg. After graduating from school with a high school diploma, Ballhaus completed a two-year photography apprenticeship and then worked as a stage photographer. The desire to become a cameraman awoke in Ballhaus on the set of Max Ophüls' filming of "Lola Montez" (1955). He observed the work of cameraman Raoul Coutard (born 1924) and was immediately infected by the atmosphere that prevailed during this huge production. In 1958 Ballhaus married the actress and production designer Helga Betten. Together they became parents to their sons Sebastian and Florian. In 1959 Ballhaus was hired by Südwestrundfunk Baden-Baden, where he worked as chief cameraman until 1966. He made his first feature film in 1968, the Hallervorden comedy "Several Daily". He came into contact with the legendary German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. This was followed by a close collaboration that lasted over eight years, resulting in, among others, the titles "The American Soldier" (1970), "Warning of a Holy Whore" (1970), "World on a Wire" (1973) and "Chinese Roulette" (1976 ) come.
For the joint productions "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant" from 1973 and "Despair" from 1978, Ballhaus was awarded the Federal Film Prize for his cinematography. Due to Fassbinder's increasing popularity abroad - he was the most important representative of German film at the time - the popularity of his cameraman Ballhaus also increased. When he partially filmed Peter Lilienthal's "Dear Mr. Wonderful" in the USA in 1982, he also came into contact with American film producers. Ballhaus stayed in the USA. He met Martin Scorsese and filmed "The Time After Midnight" (1985) and "The Color of Money" (1986) with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. This collaboration can be seen as Ballhaus' international breakthrough. Ballhaus made a name for himself in the American film business, particularly his precise angles and his ability to capture the atmosphere and mood of the respective scenes, which earned him great recognition there.
From then on, Ballhaus worked with the most well-known producers and directors, including Francis Ford Coppola for "Dracula", with Robert Redford for "Quiz Show" and "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and again and again with Martin Scorsese. Ballhaus became famous above all for its specialty, the 360° ride around the actors. This trip was seen for the first time in Fassbinder's marital drama "Martha". A scene in "The Fabulous Baker Boys" from 1989, where Ballhaus had the camera move in a circle around Michelle Pfeiffer on a piano, was also spectacular. Together with director Tom Tykwer, Ballhaus published an interview book entitled "The Flying Eye - Michael Ballhaus, Director of Photography". Ballhaus was nominated for an Oscar three times: in 1987 for "News Fever," in 1989 for "The Fabulous Baker Boys," and in 2002 for "Gangs of New York." His more famous works also include "Lilli Marleen" (1981), "Death of a Salesman" (1985), "Good Fellas" (1990), "What the Heart Desires" (2003) and "Departed: Among Enemies" (2006) .
His wife Helga died on September 28, 2006 in Los Angeles. In 2007, Ballhaus received the International Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC); In 2010 he was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit. On October 28, 2011 he married the director Sherry Hormann. In 2012 they worked together on the film "3096 Days", which told the story of Natascha Kampusch's kidnapping. It was his last cinema production. In 2013 he received the honorary award at the 34th Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in Saarbrücken, in 2015 Ballhaus was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit and in 2016 he was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
Michael Ballhaus died on April 11, 2017 in Berlin.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth
- SpousesSherry Hormann(October 27, 2011 - April 12, 2017) (his death)Helga Ballhaus(August 23, 1958 - September 28, 2006) (her death, 2 children)
- His uncle Carl Balhaus appeared in the classic M (1931) as the man who marked Peter Lorre with the sign "M".
- He retired in 2016, suffering from glaucoma and nearly blind.
- Got to know Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with whom he made 15 movies, in the late 1960s.
- Visiting the set of Lola Montès (1955) and watching cinematographer Christian Matras at work was an important inspiration for young Michael. His aunt was married to Max Ophüls, the film's director.
- He was the director of photography for six films that were nominated for the 'Best Picture' Academy Award: Broadcast News (1987), Working Girl (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Quiz Show (1994), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Departed (2006), which won 'Best Picture'.
- [in 2016, on how his difficult collaboration with Rainer Werner Fassbinder prepared him for his career in the U.S.] It helped a lot because he was not an easy director. He was very hard on me and he was very pushy. He always cracked the whip to be fast and not to spend too much time. So I learned to be fast and still tried to be good. That was a big help later when I started shooting in the States. It was also a big help because he was so temperamental that from then on I knew I could handle every director in the world.
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