Michael Ballhaus

Michael Ballhaus
Michael Ballhaus
	Ballhaus in 2007
Born	5 August 1935; Berlin, Nazi Germany
Died	12 April 2017 (aged 81); Berlin, Germany
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1959–2013
Organization	American Society of Cinematographers
Known for	Broadcast News; Goodfellas; The Age of Innocence; The Departed
Spouses	; Helga Betten (m. 1958; died 2006) ; Sherry Hormann; (m. 2011)
Children	2, including Florian Ballhaus
Parent(s)	Oskar Ballhaus [de]; Lena Hutter [de]
Relatives	Carl Balhaus (uncle)

Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. (5 August 1935 – 12 April 2017) was a German cinematographer. He is known for his work with directors including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, James L. Brooks, and Wolfgang Petersen. He was a member of both the Academy of Arts, Berlin, and the American Society of Cinematographers.

Early life

Ballhaus was born on 5 August 1935 in Berlin to actors Lena Hutter [de] and Oskar Ballhaus [de]. His uncle was actor and director Carl Ballhaus.^[1]^[2] Ballhaus was influenced by family friend Max Ophüls,^[3] and appeared as an extra in Ophüls' last film Lola Montès (1955).^[4]

Career

Ballhaus came to prominence for his work with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder on films including Whity (1971), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Chinese Roulette (1976) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978).

After settling in the United States, he worked on American films such as Baby It's You (1983) for John Sayles; Old Enough (1984) for Marisa Silver; Under the Cherry Moon (1986) for Prince; After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Departed (2006) for Martin Scorsese; Broadcast News (1987) and I'll Do Anything (1994) for James L. Brooks; The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) for Steve Kloves; Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) for Francis Ford Coppola; Sleepers (1996) for Barry Levinson; and Wild Wild West (1999) for Barry Sonnenfeld. Ballhaus appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film Fassbinder's Women (2000).

In 1990, Ballhaus was the head of the jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.^[5]

Ballhaus was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for his work on Broadcast News, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Gangs of New York, but never won. He won the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for Bram Stoker's Dracula, the Boston Society of Film Critics and Los Angeles Film Critics Association cinematography awards for The Fabulous Baker Boys, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for Goodfellas.

His documentary In Berlin, made with Ciro Cappellari, was released in May 2009.

Ballhaus' final film was Sherry Hormann's 3096 Days in 2013.

Personal life and death

Ballhaus was married to actress and art director Helga Maria Betten from 1958 until her death in 2006.^[6] They had two sons: cinematographer Florian and assistant director Jan Sebastian.^[7]

In 2011, Ballhaus married German-American director Sherry Hormann.^[8] He died at his home in Berlin on 12 April 2017, at the age of 81, after a short illness.^[9]

Filmography

Cinematographer

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1969	Mehrmals täglich	Ralf Gregan
1969	Deine Zärtlichkeiten	Peter Schamoni Herbert Vesely
1970	Wir - zwei	Ulrich Schamoni
1971	Whity	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1971	Beware of a Holy Whore
1972	The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
1972	Tödlicher Poker	Ulli Lommel
1973	Tschetan, der Indianerjunge	Hark Bohm
1973	Das sündige Bett	Ralf Gregan	Credited as "Michael Alexander"
1974	Made in Germany und USA	Rudolf Thome	With Martin Schäfer
1975	Fox and His Friends	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	Das Amulett des Todes	Ralf Gregan Günter Vaessen
1976	Summerfolk [de]	Peter Stein
	Satan's Brew	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	With Jürgen Jürges
	Chinese Roulette	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1977	Adolf und Marlene	Ulli Lommel
1978	Despair	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1979	The Marriage of Maria Braun	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1979	The First Polka	Klaus Emmerich
1980	La insurrección	Peter Lilienthal
1980	Big and Little	Peter Stein
1981	Lili Marleen	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	Uncredited
	Malou	Jeanine Meerapfel
	Looping	Walter Bockmayer Rolf Bührmann	With Horst Knechtel
	Heute spielen wir den Boß	Peer Raben
1982	The Magic Mountain	Hans W. Geißendörfer
1982	Dear Mr. Wonderful	Peter Lilienthal
1983	Sheer Madness	Margarethe von Trotta
	Baby It's You	John Sayles
	Edith's Diary	Hans W. Geißendörfer
1984	Old Enough	Marisa Silver
	Reckless	James Foley
	Das Autogramm	Peter Lilienthal
	Heartbreakers	Bobby Roth
1985	After Hours	Martin Scorsese
1986	Under the Cherry Moon	Prince Himself (Uncredited)
1986	The Color of Money	Martin Scorsese
1987	The Glass Menagerie	Paul Newman
1987	Broadcast News	James L. Brooks
1988	The House on Carroll Street	Peter Yates
	The Last Temptation of Christ	Martin Scorsese
	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Frank Oz
	Working Girl	Mike Nichols
1989	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Steve Kloves
1990	Goodfellas	Martin Scorsese
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Mike Nichols
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Irwin Winkler
1991	What About Bob?	Frank Oz
1992	The Mambo Kings	Arne Glimcher
1992	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Francis Ford Coppola
1993	The Age of Innocence	Martin Scorsese
1994	I'll Do Anything	James L. Brooks
1994	Quiz Show	Robert Redford
1995	Outbreak	Wolfgang Petersen
1996	Sleepers	Barry Levinson
1996	Kreuz & quer	Anteij Farak Ariane Homayounfar Lenard Fritz Krawinkel Yasemin Şamdereli
1997	Air Force One	Wolfgang Petersen
1998	Primary Colors	Mike Nichols
1999	Wild Wild West	Barry Sonnenfeld
2000	What Planet Are You From?	Mike Nichols
2000	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Robert Redford
2002	Gangs of New York	Martin Scorsese
2003	Uptown Girls	Boaz Yakin
2003	Something's Gotta Give	Nancy Meyers
2005	Sonntagsluft	Frank A. Buecheler
2006	The Departed	Martin Scorsese
2013	3096 Days	Sherry Hormann

Short film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1978	I (Beat (It))	Valie Export	Segment "Teile I"
1979	Bourbon Street Blues	Hans Schönherr Tilman Taube
2001	Gone Underground	Su Turhan
2002	Mutti	Su Turhan
2007	Die sanfte Schminke des Lichts	Alexander Kluge
2007	Nachts träumen die Lampen des Ateliers von ihrem wahren Leben	Alexander Kluge
2009	Purple Sunrise	Nina Vukovic	With Armin Dierolf
2013	First Fassbinder	Matthew Cheney

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1958-1970	Sie schreiben mit
1973	World on a Wire	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	Miniseries
1973	Tatort	Wolfgang Staudte	Episode "Tote brauchen keine Wohnung"
1974	Ein Haus für uns	Wim Wenders	Episodes "Aus der Familie der Panzerechsen" and "Die Insel"
1974-1976	Unter einem Dach
1979	Alpensaga	Dieter Berner	Episode "Der deutsche Frühling"

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1960	Die Nachbarskinder	Peter Lilienthal
1961	Die Kassette	Rudolf Noelte
1963	Der Klassenaufsatz	Harald Benesch
1964	Die Wohnung	Harald Benesch
1964	Das Martyrium des Peter O'Hey	Peter Lilienthal
1966	Große Liebe	Johannes Schaaf
1966	Abschied	Peter Lilienthal
1968	Ganze Tage in den Bäumen	Tom Toelle
1968	Gold für Montevasall	Thomas Engel
1969	Der Kidnapper	Tom Toelle
1971	Sand	Peter Palitzsch
1972	Der Marquis von Keith	Hans Lietzau
	Der Held	Hagen Müller-Stahl
	Adele Spitzeder	Peer Raben
1974	Martha	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1974	Rosenmontag	Peter Beauvais
1976	Die Wahl	Rainer Boldt
	I Only Want You to Love Me	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	With Ernst Schmid
	Dorothea Merz	Peter Beauvais
	Sonntag	Niels-Peter Rudolph
1977	Auf dem Chimborazo	Peter Beauvais
	Frauen in New York	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	The Stationmaster's Wife	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	Also es war so...	Karin Thome	With Lothar E. Stickelbrucks
1978	Der Gehilfe	Ludwig Cremer
1979	Trilogie des Wiedersehens	Botho Strauß
1980	Weihnacht '80 - Drei geschichten	Wilhelm Pevny Dieter Berner	Segments "Das Menschenkindl" and "Maria und Josef"
1982	Der Auslöser	Maria Neocleous
1985	Death of a Salesman	Volker Schlöndorff
1986	Landscape with Waitress	Jeffrey Townsend
1988	Baja Oklahoma	Bobby Roth

TV short

Year	Title	Director
1965	Der große Wildenberg - Ein Feuilleton	Herbert Vesely
1966	Ein Haus aus lauter Liebe	Herbert Vesely

Documentary works

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1961	Traumland der Sehnsucht	Wolfgang Müller-Sehn	Shared credit with Wolfgang Müller-Sehn
1977	Nur zum Spaß, nur zum Spiel	Volker Schlöndorff
1978	Germany in Autumn	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1978	Venedig - Die Insel der Glückseligen am Rande des Untergangs	Christian Rischert
1981	Oye Raimundo, adónde vas?	Jaime Carrasco Francisco Chavez Luis Lupone Jesús Sánchez

Short film

Year	Title	Director
1971	Berlin - Anhalter Bahnhof - XXV Jahre danach	Leonid Wawiloff

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1971	Die Verabredung mit der Wirklichkeit	Himself
1971	Fassbinder produziert: Film Nr. 8	Himself Dietmar Buchmann
1973	Ich bin ein Bürger der DDR	Erika Runge
1977	Curd Jürgens	Bernhard Wicki	With Xaver Schwarzenberger

Director

Documentary film

Year	Title	Notes
1971	Die Verabredung mit der Wirklichkeit	TV movie
1971	Fassbinder produziert: Film Nr. 8	TV movie
2011	Unser Franken	Co-directed with Ulla Ballhaus

Feature film

Year	Title	Notes
1986	Under the Cherry Moon	Uncredited
2009	In Berlin	Also writer and editor

Producer

Year	Title	Notes
1971	Fassbinder produziert: Film Nr. 8
1999	The Thirteenth Floor	Executive producer
2004	Last Night	Consulting producer (Short film)
2011	Remembrance	Associate producer

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
1987	Best Cinematography	Broadcast News	Nominated
1989		The Fabulous Baker Boys	Nominated
2002		Gangs of New York	Nominated

BAFTA Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
1990	Best Cinematography	Goodfellas	Nominated
1993		The Age of Innocence	Nominated
2002		Gangs of New York	Nominated

Chicago Film Critics Association

Year	Category	Title	Result
1992	Best Cinematography	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Won
2002		Gangs of New York	Nominated
2006		The Departed	Nominated

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Year	Category	Title	Result
1989	Best Cinematography	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Won
1990	Best Cinematography	Goodfellas	Won

Satellite Awards

Year	Category	Title	Result
2000	Best Cinematography	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Nominated
2002	Best Cinematography	Gangs of New York	Nominated

Other awards

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1985	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Cinematography	After Hours	Nominated
1989	Boston Society of Film Critics	Best Cinematography	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Won
1989	National Society of Film Critics	Best Cinematography	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Won
2007	Bavarian Film Awards	Honorary Award		Won

References

^ Filmreference.com
^ Thomas Vorwerk, Das fliegende Auge: Michael Ballhaus im Gespräch mit Tom Tykwer
^ A Conversation With Michael Ballhaus, ASC (November 20, 2006) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
^ Michael Ballhaus discusses his connection with the Austrian director in the documentary film Working with Max Ophuls: Lola Montès Revisited (2008).
^ "Berlinale: 1990 Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
^ Fox, Margalit (15 April 2017). "Michael Ballhaus, an Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer, Dies at 81". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
^ "In Memoriam: Michael Ballhaus, ASC, BVK (1935-2017) – The American Society of Cinematographers (en-US)". theasc.com. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
^ Filmreife Hochzeit in Zehlendorf!. bild.de, 28 October 2011. Retrieved on 13 March 2012.
^ McNary, Dave (12 April 2017). "Michael Ballhaus, 'The Departed' and 'Goodfellas' Cinematographer, Dies at 81". Variety. Retrieved 11 January 2019.

External links

[filmr-1] Filmreference.com

[2] Thomas Vorwerk, Das fliegende Auge: Michael Ballhaus im Gespräch mit Tom Tykwer

[3] A Conversation With Michael Ballhaus, ASC (November 20, 2006) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)

[4] Michael Ballhaus discusses his connection with the Austrian director in the documentary film Working with Max Ophuls: Lola Montès Revisited (2008).

[Berlinale-5] "Berlinale: 1990 Juries". berlinale.de. Retrieved 14 March 2011.

[6] Fox, Margalit (15 April 2017). "Michael Ballhaus, an Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer, Dies at 81". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 February 2023.

[7] "In Memoriam: Michael Ballhaus, ASC, BVK (1935-2017) – The American Society of Cinematographers (en-US)". theasc.com. Retrieved 21 February 2023.

[8] Filmreife Hochzeit in Zehlendorf!. bild.de, 28 October 2011. Retrieved on 13 March 2012.

[9] McNary, Dave (12 April 2017). "Michael Ballhaus, 'The Departed' and 'Goodfellas' Cinematographer, Dies at 81". Variety. Retrieved 11 January 2019.

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v t e Berlin International Film Festival jury presidents
1956–1975	Marcel Carné (1956) Jay Carmody (1957) Frank Capra (1958) Robert Aldrich (1959) Harold Lloyd (1960) James Quinn (1961) King Vidor (1962) Wendy Toye (1963) Anthony Mann (1964) John Gillett (1965) Pierre Braunberger (1966) Thorold Dickinson (1967) Luis García Berlanga (1968) Johannes Schaaf (1969) George Stevens (1970) Bjørn Rasmussen (1971) Eleanor Perry (1972) David Robinson (1973) Rodolfo Kuhn (1974) Sylvia Syms (1975)
1976–2000	Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1976) Senta Berger (1977) Patricia Highsmith (1978) Jörn Donner (1979) Ingrid Thulin (1980) Jutta Brückner (1981) Joan Fontaine (1982) Jeanne Moreau (1983) Liv Ullmann (1984) Jean Marais (1985) Gina Lollobrigida (1986) Klaus Maria Brandauer (1987) Guglielmo Biraghi (1988) Rolf Liebermann (1989) Michael Ballhaus (1990) Volker Schlöndorff (1991) Annie Girardot (1992) Frank Beyer (1993) Jeremy Thomas (1994) Lia van Leer (1995) Nikita Mikhalkov (1996) Jack Lang (1997) Ben Kingsley (1998) Ángela Molina (1999) Gong Li (2000)
2001–present	Bill Mechanic (2001) Mira Nair (2002) Atom Egoyan (2003) Frances McDormand (2004) Roland Emmerich (2005) Charlotte Rampling (2006) Paul Schrader (2007) Costa-Gavras (2008) Tilda Swinton (2009) Werner Herzog (2010) Isabella Rossellini (2011) Mike Leigh (2012) Wong Kar-wai (2013) James Schamus (2014) Darren Aronofsky (2015) Meryl Streep (2016) Paul Verhoeven (2017) Tom Tykwer (2018) Juliette Binoche (2019) Jeremy Irons (2020) M. Night Shyamalan (2022) Kristen Stewart (2023) Lupita Nyong'o (2024) Todd Haynes (2025)

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Michael Ballhaus
Ballhaus in 2007
Born	(1935-08-05)5 August 1935 Berlin, Nazi Germany
Died	12 April 2017(2017-04-12) (aged 81) Berlin, Germany
Occupation	Cinematographer
Years active	1959–2013
Organization	American Society of Cinematographers
Known for	Broadcast News Goodfellas The Age of Innocence The Departed
Spouses	Helga Betten (m. 1958; died 2006) Sherry Hormann (m. 2011)
Children	2, including Florian Ballhaus
Parent(s)	Oskar Ballhaus [de] Lena Hutter [de]
Relatives	Carl Balhaus (uncle)