Erik Balling

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Erik Balling (November 29, 1924 – November 19, 2005) was a Danish TV and film director.

He created two of Denmark's most popular TV-series, Matador and Huset på Christianshavn.

His feature film Qivitoq (1956) was nominated for a Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, and for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.

Together with Henning Bahs, he also created the hugely popular series of Olsen Gang feature films.

[edit] 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, 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 Olsen Gang. There were 13 episodes of this movie series between 1968 and 1981, starting with Olsen-banden. They were remade in sevaral languages.

In 1998, Erik Balling received an Honorary Robert Award.

[edit] Filmography

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1953: Adam and Eve
1956: Qivitoq
1958: The Poet and the Little Mother
1960: Faith, Hope and Witchcraft
1962: Den kære familie
1964: Death Comes at High Noon
1965: Operation Lovebirds
1968-81: Olsen Gang series
1984: Midt om natten