Hans Thimig

Hans Emil Thimig, pseudonym: Hans Werner (23 July 1900 in Vienna – 17 February 1991, also in Vienna) was an Austrian actor, film director, and stage director.

Life 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 – under his real name – at the Burgtheater in Vienna, and then moved to the Theater in der Josefstadt, also in Vienna, 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 1943 in the United States where he had gone as a refugee, 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.

From 1949 he performed again on stage in Vienna, alternating among the Burgtheater (of which he became an honorary member) the Theater an der Josefstadt and the Wiener Volkstheater. On top of that he continued to work as a film director and in 1959 took over from his sister Helene (who retired on grounds of age) the direction of the prestigious Vienna Max Reinhardt Seminar, as the School of Drama of the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst had been renamed after World War II, in honour of the great Austrian director.

Hans Thimig died in 1991 in Vienna, aged 90. He left his body to science, but a memorial stands in the Vienna Zentralfriedhof.

He was twice married. His daughter Henriette Thimig is also an actress.

Filmography Silent films: 1921: Clothes Make the Man – Narr 1922: Der Ausflug in die Seligkeit 1922: The Good for Nothings 1922: Sodom und Gomorrha 1923: Tales of Old Vienna – Wendelin Frohgemut jun. 1924: The Moon of Israel 1925: The Curse – Sinche 1925: Love Story 1927: Die Kirschen in Nachbars Garten / Die Strecke – Kargl jun. 1928: A Woman with Style – Die Ordonnanz 1928: Rich, Young and Beautiful – Paul 1929: The White Paradise – Donald Evans 1930: Was kostet die Liebe?

Sound films:

1930: Money on the Street – Max Kesselberg 1931: Poor as a Church Mouse – Frany, der Barons Sohn 1932: Lumpenkavaliere / Wiener Lumpenkavaliere 1932: Sehnsucht 202 – Ein Beamter 1933: Voices of Spring – Toni 1934: Jede Frau hat ein Geheimnis – Dr.Bürger 1935: Dance Music – Franz Hegner 1936: The Postman from Longjumeau – Pierre Touche, Dorfbarbier 1937: Ich möcht' so gern mit Dir allein sein / Millionäre – Freundlich, Prokurist 1937: Die glücklichste Ehe der Welt – Toni Hubermann 1938: Geld fällt vom Himmel – Christian Pasemann 1941: So gefällst Du mir (co-director) 1941: Brüderlein fein (director; co-wrote the screenplay) 1942: Die kluge Marianne (director; co-wrote the screenplay 1943: Die goldene Fessel (director) 1943: Two Happy People 1944: Umwege zu Dir (director; co-wrote the screenplay) 1944: Wie ein Dieb in der Nacht (director) 1947: Gottes Engel sind überall (director) 1948: Der Angeklagte hat das Wort /Maresi (director) 1951: – Bürovorsteher 1952: Voices of Spring (director) 1953: Franz Schubert – Vater Schubert 1954: Wenn Du noch eine Mutter hast / Das Licht der Liebe – Schuldirektor 1954: Victoria in Dover – The Dean Chester 1955: His Daughter is Called Peter – Zimmerkellner 1955: Sarajevo – Rumerskirch 1956: And Who Is Kissing Me? – Paul Eckert 1958: Meine schöne Mama – Dr. Meyerhofer 1958: The Priest and the Girl – Legationsrat Düringer 1958: Sebastian Kneipp – Der Kardinal 1959: My Daughter Patricia – Dr. Hartung 1960: The Good Soldier Schweik – Magistrate (uncredited) 1960: Big Request Concert 1960: Final Accord – Dr. Thimm, Chefarzt 1960: Ich heirate Herrn Direktor 1961: Man in the Shadows – Dr. Stallinger, Professor 1965: Der Nachfolger (TV Movie) – Kardinal der Kongregation De Propaganda Fide 1965: Heidi – Dompförtner 1977: The Standard – Hofbeamter