George Hoellering

George Michael Hoellering (20 July 1897 – 10 February 1980) was an Austrian film director, producer and cinema manager. He directed Hortobagy about the Puszta in Hungary, as well as the 1951 British film Murder in the Cathedral, which he co-wrote with T. S. Eliot. He was the director of the Academy Cinema in London's Oxford Street from 1944 until his death in 1980.

Early life George Hoellering was born as Georg Michael Höllering in Baden, near Vienna, Austria, on 20 July 1897, the third of four children of the musician and impresario, Georg Höllering, and his wife, Maria Magdalene.

Career From 1919 to 1924 Hoellering was licensee of the Schikaneder Kino in Vienna. At the beginning of the 1920s he moved to Berlin, managed his Vienna cinema from the distance, and worked in the film industry as an editor and director of shorts. He was production manager of Kuhle Wampe (1932), a German film classic, written by Bertolt Brecht. With the approaching Nazi takeover at the end of 1932, Hoellering and his pregnant Jewish wife thought it wise to leave Germany. For a short time they settled in Vienna.

Early in 1934, Hoellering, his family and the cameraman László Schäffer moved to Hungary, to make a film at the famous Puszta of Hortobágy. The film Hortobagy is a docu-fiction, an amalgam of documentary shots with a threefold story-line, which is acted out by peasants and herdsmen. As the Hungarian censors ordered Hortobagy to be cut by more than 10%, in 1936 Hoellering decided to emigrate to England.

Hoellering became a director of the Academy Cinema in London's Oxford Street where Elsie Cohen was the manager. From 1944 until his death in 1980 he was the manager and part-owner. During the war years, Hoellering directed several wartime propaganda shorts for different ministries, and Message from Canterbury (1944), a documentary made with the close cooperation of Archbishop William Temple.

He worked for several years on the film version of T.S.Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, which won two prizes (Best Art Direction and Best Film in Costume) at the Venice International Film Festival, 1951.

Hoellering was appointed to the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute by Harold Wilson's government.

Personal life Hoellering in 1919 married Emma Weidenauer, a German actress, who died in 1927 in cancer.

His second wife, Dora Constance Lehmann, had been previously married and had a son, Ivo Jarosy. She was the daughter of Felix Lehmann and his wife Anna Friedländer. They married in 1929 in Baden, Austria, and their only child, Andrew, was born in Vienna in 1932. Dora died in England in 1955. On 24 November 1956, Hoellering married Anne Allnatt (b. 1925/6) the daughter of Alfred Ernest Allnatt, a building contractor.

Death He died in Suffolk on 10 February 1980.

Selected filmography Hunting You (1929), producer Kuhle Wampe (1932), production manager Hortobágy (1936), director and producer Murder in the Cathedral (1951), director, producer, screenwriter and co-editor

World War II newsreel trailers Water Saving (1942), director Water Pipes (1942), director Eyes on the Target (1942), director Salvage Saves Shipping (1943), producer Peak Load (1943), producer Make Do and Mend Parties (1943), producer Blood Will Out (1943), director and producer Skeleton in the Cupboard (1943), director and producer Blood Will Out (1943), director and producer Books, Books, Books (1943), director and producer Old Logs (1943), director and producer Tim Marches Back (1944), director and producer Tyre Economy (1944), director and producer Hands Off (1945), director and producer Golden Glory (1945), director and producer Help Wanted (1945), director and producer Paper Possibilities (1945), director and producer Family Allowances (1946), director Briquette Making (1946), director

Shorts Message from Canterbury (1944), director, producer and editor Shapes and Forms (1950), director, producer, screenwriter and editor Plan for Living (1950), director and producer Glasgow Orpheus Choir (1951), director, producer, screenwriter and co-editor