{{short description|German actor, director, screenwriter}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Martin Hellberg | image = | caption = | other_names = Martin Heinrich | birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|1|31|df=y}} | birth_place = Dresden, Saxony, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|1999|10|31|1905|1|31|df=y}} | death_place = Bad Berka, Thuringia, Germany | children = Igael Tumarkin | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Berta Gurewitsch|1926|1935}} * Ruth Baldor }} | relatives = Yon Tumarkin (grandson) | occupation = Actor, director, writer | years_active = 1935–1985 }} '''Martin Hellberg''' (also known as Martin Heinrich, 31 January 1905 – 31 October 1999) was a German actor, director and writer.<ref>{{IMDb name|0375213}}</ref>
==Life== Martin Hellberg was born in 1905 in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, as a son of a pastor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/der-fruehere-defa-regisseur-und-schauspieler-martin-hellberg-wird-heute-90-jahre-alt-klassische-dramen-fuers-grosse-kinopublikum,10810590,8907968.html|title=Der frühere DEFA-Regisseur und Schauspieler Martin Hellberg wird heute 90 Jahre alt.Klassische Dramen fürs große Kinopublikum.|publisher=Berliner-zeitung.de|author=Klaus Kirst|date=31 January 1995|accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref> 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 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staatsschauspiel-dresden.de/ensemble/mitarbeiter/ehrenmitglieder/martin_hellberg|title=Martin Hellberg|publisher=Staatsschauspiel-dresden.de|accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref> 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'',<ref name="defa">{{cite web|url=http://www.defa.de/hellberg-martin|title=Hellberg, Martin|publisher=Defa.de|accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref> he received the International Peace Prize for this film.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR|last2=Panorama DDR|last3=Intertext|author4=Fremdsprachendienst der DDR|title=Information GDR: the comprehensive and authoritative reference source of the German Democratic Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2mJoAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 July 2010|year=1989|publisher=Pergamon Press|isbn=978-0-08-037065-1|page=634}}</ref> In 1958, he was the director and writer of the movie ''Emilia Galotti''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zeit.de/1957/16/westliche-dekadenz-im-kino|title="Westliche Dekadenz" im Kino. Weniger Politik, mehr Unterhaltung – Babelsberger Pläne für 1957.|publisher=Zeit.de|author=Heinz Kersten|date=1957-04-18|accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://defa-stiftung.de/docs/attachments/24ba7bdd-c12b-46e4-9c4c-0db3c2f553d4/Zwischen-Volksfront-und-Ewigkeit.-Martin-Hellberg-wird-90-Ralf-Schenk.pdf|title=Zwischen Volksfront und Ewigkeit. Martin Hellberg wird 90.|publisher=Defa-stiftung.de|author=Ralf Schenk|accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref> In 1964, he wrote and directed the movie ''Viel Lärm um nichts''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fr-online.de/film/film--viel-laerm-um-nichts--sittsame-fraeulein-am-pool,1473350,27947710.html|title=Film "Viel Lärm um nichts". Sittsame Fräulein am Pool.|publisher=Fr-online.de|author=Anke Westphal|accessdate=24 July 2014}}</ref> In 1981, he appeared as Professor Reinhardt in the movie ''Mephisto'', which was awarded with the 1981 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1982|title=The 54th Academy Awards (1982) Nominees and Winners|accessdate=2013-06-15|work=oscars.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.br.de/fernsehen/bayerisches-fernsehen/programmkalender/sendung671704.html|title=Mephisto|work=Br.de|accessdate=18 October 2014}}</ref>
Martin Hellberg was married to Berta Gurewitsch from 1926 to 1935. Then Gurewitsch emigrated to then-British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) together with their son Yigal Tumarkin.<ref>[http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/hoerspiel/2208433/ Text to the audiobook ''Tagebuch'' (RIAS Berlin, 1963) on www.dradio.de]</ref> Tumarkin's youngest son and Hellberg's grandson Yon Tumarkin is a well known Israeli actor.<ref>{{IMDb name|1699158|section=bio}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boomerang.com.br/personajes/leo|title=Split. Personajes|work=boomerang.com.br|accessdate=18 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520220705/http://www.boomerang.com.br/personajes/leo|archive-date=20 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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.<ref name="defa" /> During his last years as a writer, director and actor, Hellberg worked and lived in Bad Berka near Weimar.<ref>Neues Deutschland, 7. März 1980, S. 2</ref>
==Selected filmography== {| width="100%" | width="50 % valign="top"|
===Director=== *1952: ''The Condemned Village'' *1953: ''Geheimakten Solvay'' *1953: ''Das kleine und das große Glück'' *1955: ''Der Ochse von Kulm'' *1956: ''The Mayor of Zalamea'' *1956: ''Die Millionen der Yvette'' *1956: ''Thomas Muentzer'' *1957: ''Wo Du hin gehst…'' *1958: ''Emilia Galotti'' *1958: ''Kapitäne bleiben an Bord'' *1959: ''Kabale und Liebe'' *1959: ''Senta auf Abwegen'' *1962: ''Die schwarze Galeere'' *1962: ''Minna von Barnhelm oder Das Soldatenglück'' *1964: ''Viel Lärm um nichts'' | width="50 % valign="top"|
===Actor=== *1935: ''The Blonde Carmen'' *1952: ''Story of a Young Couple'' - Möbius *1957: ''Das Stacheltier - Freie Wahl'' (Short) *1959: ''Intrigue and Love'' - Miller, Stadtmusikant *1961: ''Der Landarzt'' *1967: ''Pinocchio'' - Arturo *1968: ''Treffpunkt Genf'' (TV Movie) - Prof. Gerlach *1968: ''Ein Rüpel sondergleichen'' - Regisseur *1971: ''Sleeping Beauty'' - Spielmann *1975: ''Lotte in Weimar'' - Johann Wolfgang Goethe *1977: ''Ein irrer Duft von frischem Heu'' - Pastor Himmelknecht *1978: ''Marx und Engels - Stationen ihres Lebens'' (TV Series) - Direktor Wyttenbach *1981: ''Mephisto'' - Professor *1981: ''Aus der Franzosenzeit'' (TV Movie) - Amtshauptmann Weber *1983: ''Märkische Chronik'' (TV Series) - Pfarrer Weihmann *1985: ''Johann Sebastian Bach'' (TV Series) - Heinrich Ernesti *1989: ''Die gestundete Zeit'' (TV Movie) - Dunkelberg (final film role) | width="50 % valign="top"|
===Writer=== *1956: ''The Mayor of Zalamea'' *1956: ''Thomas Muentzer'' *1956: ''Die Millionen der Yvette'' *1957: ''Wo Du hin gehst...'' *1958: ''Emilia Galotti'' *1959: ''Senta auf Abwegen'' *1959: ''Kabale und Liebe'' *1962: ''Die schwarze Galeere'' *1962: ''Minna von Barnhelm oder Das Soldatenglück'' *1964: ''Viel Lärm um nichts'' |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0375213}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellberg, Martin}} Category:German male film actors Category:1905 births Category:1999 deaths Category:20th-century German male actors Category:East German actors Category:Male actors from Dresden Category:German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine