Erik Balling (29 November 1924 – 19 November 2005) was a Danish TV and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

. He created two of Denmark's most popular TV-series, ''

Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

'' and '' Huset på Christianshavn''. His feature film '' Qivitoq'' (1956) was nominated for a

Golden Palm The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

1957 Cannes Film Festival The 10th Cannes Film Festival was held from 2 to 17 May 1957. ''Nights of Cabiria'' by Federico Fellini, '' La casa del ángel'' by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, ''A Man Escaped'' by Robert Bresson, and ''The Seventh Seal'' by Ingmar Bergman were enter ...

, and for an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

as Best Foreign Language Film. His 1962 film ''

Den kære familie ''Den kære familie'' is a 1962 Danish comedy film directed by Erik Balling based on a play by Gustav Esmann. It was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival where cinematographer Jørgen Skov won a Silver Prize for photography ...

'' was entered into the

3rd Moscow International Film Festival The 3rd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 21 July 1963. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Italian film '' 8½'' directed by Federico Fellini. Jury * Grigori Chukhrai (USSR - President of the Jury) * Shaken Ajmanov (USSR) * S ...

. Together with

Henning Bahs Henning Bahs (12 March 1928 – 29 March 2002) was a Danish screenwriter and special effects designer. He wrote for more than 40 films between 1960 and 2002. He is best known as the co-author (with Erik Balling) of the ''Olsen-banden'' seri ...

, he also created the hugely popular series of ''

Olsen Gang The ''Olsen Gang'' ( da, Olsen-banden, no, Olsenbanden, german: Die Olsenbande) is a Danish comedy film series created by Danish director Erik Balling and special effects expert Henning Bahs about the eponymous fictional criminal gang. The gang ...

'' feature films.

Biography

Balling started working for the largest and oldest Danish film production company, Nordisk Films Kompagni, in 1946. He later became the boss of the company. His made his directing debut with ''Adam & Eva'' (1953), which was nominated for a Bodil-award as Best Film. In 1956 he directed ''

Kispus ''Kispus'' is a 1956 Danish romantic comedy film written and directed by Erik Balling. The film was the first Danish feature movie to be filmed in colour. Synopsis The eccentric fashion designer Mr. Marcel gives his newly designed gown to the ...

'', which was the first Danish movie filmed in color. The most popular films directed by Balling were the feature film comedies about a trio of small-time crooks, the

. There were 13 episodes of this movie series between 1968 and 1981, starting with ''Olsen-banden''. They were remade in several languages. In 1998, Erik Balling received an Honorary Robert Award.

Filmography

Literature

* , ''Balling – Hans liv og film'', Informations Forlag, 2011. . * , ''Erik Balling : manden med de største succeser i dansk film'', Møntergården, 1996. . * ''Erik Balling – Som barn var jeg voldsomt hidsig'', Aschehoug, 1998. . * ''Erik Balling – Gedächtnisbilder: Über ein Leben, die Olsenbande und all die anderen schöne Filme'', Mosamax Verlag, Dresden 2016.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balling, Erik 1924 births 2005 deaths 20th-century screenwriters Bodil Honorary Award recipients Danish film directors Danish television directors Danish male screenwriters People from Nyborg