Hans Emil Thimig, pseudonym: Hans Werner (23 July 1900 in Vienna â€"
17 February 1991, also in Vienna) was an Austrian actor, film
director, and stage director.The youngest son of the Burgtheater actor
Hugo Thimig and Franziska "Fanny" Hummel, his siblings included actors
Helene Thimig and Hermann Thimig. He performed without any training as
a 16-year-old under the pseudonym "Hans Werner" at the Wiener
Volkstheater. From 1918 to 1924 he was engaged â€" under his real name
â€" at the Burgtheater, and then moved to the Theater in der
Josefstadt, managed by his future brother-in-law Max Reinhardt. There,
besides his father, his sister Helene Thimig and his brother Hermann
Thimig also performed, so that the Viennese public used to call it the
"Thimig-Theater". He soon began to direct as well, at first in the
Theater in der Josefstadt, and later also in the film industry.Hans
Thimig remained loyal to the Theater in der Josefstadt until 1942. It
was also thanks to him that the theatre survived the National
Socialist period relatively "Nazi-free". Thimig saw to it that the
director of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Heinz Hilpert, also took
over the running of the Josefstadt Theatre (Reinhardt too had managed
both theatres simultaneously). When Max Reinhardt died in American
exile in 1943, Hilpert together with the Thimig brothers, despite the
Nazi regime, organised a memorial event in the Theater in der
Josefstadt.At the end of 1944 Thimig's superiors ordered him to shoot
a politically tendentious film in Berlin. Karl Hartl, the director of
production at Wien-Film, advised him however just to "clear off",
which he did. He withdrew to the small town of Wildalpen, where the
family owned a holiday home, while Hartl covered for him and reported
him sick. After the war Thimig became mayor of Wildalpen for a short
time, as he was the only man in the place without a National Socialist
record.
17 February 1991, also in Vienna) was an Austrian actor, film
director, and stage director.The youngest son of the Burgtheater actor
Hugo Thimig and Franziska "Fanny" Hummel, his siblings included actors
Helene Thimig and Hermann Thimig. He performed without any training as
a 16-year-old under the pseudonym "Hans Werner" at the Wiener
Volkstheater. From 1918 to 1924 he was engaged â€" under his real name
â€" at the Burgtheater, and then moved to the Theater in der
Josefstadt, managed by his future brother-in-law Max Reinhardt. There,
besides his father, his sister Helene Thimig and his brother Hermann
Thimig also performed, so that the Viennese public used to call it the
"Thimig-Theater". He soon began to direct as well, at first in the
Theater in der Josefstadt, and later also in the film industry.Hans
Thimig remained loyal to the Theater in der Josefstadt until 1942. It
was also thanks to him that the theatre survived the National
Socialist period relatively "Nazi-free". Thimig saw to it that the
director of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Heinz Hilpert, also took
over the running of the Josefstadt Theatre (Reinhardt too had managed
both theatres simultaneously). When Max Reinhardt died in American
exile in 1943, Hilpert together with the Thimig brothers, despite the
Nazi regime, organised a memorial event in the Theater in der
Josefstadt.At the end of 1944 Thimig's superiors ordered him to shoot
a politically tendentious film in Berlin. Karl Hartl, the director of
production at Wien-Film, advised him however just to "clear off",
which he did. He withdrew to the small town of Wildalpen, where the
family owned a holiday home, while Hartl covered for him and reported
him sick. After the war Thimig became mayor of Wildalpen for a short
time, as he was the only man in the place without a National Socialist
record.
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