Michael Ballhaus

Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C.
Ballhaus in Berlin, 14 September 2007
Born	(1935-08-05) 5 August 1935 Berlin, Germany
Occupation	cinematographer
Spouse(s)	Helga Mavia Betten Ballhaus (1958-2006) (her death) Sherry Hormann (2011-)
Children	Sebastian Ballhaus Florian Ballhaus

Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. (born 5 August 1935) is a German cinematographer. In 1990, he was the Head of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Life and career

Ballhaus was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of actors Lena Hutter and Oskar Ballhaus. Ballhaus was influenced by family friend Max Ophüls, and appears as an extra in Ophüls last film Lola Montès (1955).

He came to prominence with his work on sixteen films for Rainer Werner Fassbinder beginning with Whity (1970) and, including The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Satan's Brew and Chinese Roulette (both 1976).

Since settling in the United States, he has also worked on many American films, including Baby It's You (1983) for John Sayles; 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; Dracula (1992) for Francis Ford Coppola, and Sleepers (1996) for Barry Levinson.

Ballhaus has been nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for Broadcast News (1987), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), and Gangs of New York (2002), but has never won. He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for Goodfellas.

Ballhaus released his documentary In Berlin together with Ciro Cappelari in May 2009.

Personal life

His wife since 1958, Helga Ballhaus, née Betten, appeared in a handful of films, including several directed by Fassbinder; she died in 2006. Their son Florian is also a cinematographer (Flightplan, The Devil Wears Prada). In 2011, he married German-American film director Sherry Hormann (Desert Flower).

Filmography

• Whity (1971)
• Beware of a Holy Whore (1971) (Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte)
• The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) (Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant)
• Fox and His Friends (1975) (Faustrecht der Freiheit)
• Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven (1975) (Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel)
• Satan's Brew (1976) (Satansbraten)
• Chinese Roulette (1976) (Chinesisches Roulette)
• Germany in Autumn (1978) (Deutschland im Herbst)
• Despair (1978)
• The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) (Die Ehe der Maria Braun)
• The First Polka (1979) (Die erste Polka)
• Lili Marleen (1981)
• Dear Mr. Wonderful (1982)
• Sheer Madness (1983) (Heller Wahn)
• Baby It's You (1983)
• Reckless (1984)
• Old Enough (1984)
• Heartbreakers (1984)
• Das Autogramm (1984)
• After Hours (1985)
• Under the Cherry Moon (1986)
• The Color of Money (1986)
• The Glass Menagerie (1987)
• Broadcast News (1987)
• The House on Carroll Street (1988)
• The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
• Working Girl (1988)
• The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
• Postcards from the Edge (1990)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Guilty by Suspicion (1991)
• What About Bob? (1991)
• The Mambo Kings (1992)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• I'll Do Anything (1994)
• Quiz Show (1994)
• Outbreak (1995)
• Sleepers (1996)
• Air Force One (1997)
• Primary Colors (1998)
• Wild Wild West (1999)
• What Planet Are You From? (2000)
• The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
• Gangs of New York (2002)
• Uptown Girls (2003)
• Something's Gotta Give (2003)
• The Departed (2006)

Awards

• 2007 Bavarian Film Awards Honorary Award

See also

• List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees

External links

• Michael Ballhaus at the Internet Movie Database
• Cinemascope interview
• Michael Ballhaus in Genealogy Wiki