Rudi Dolezal

Rudi Dolezal (, born 5 February 1958) is an Austrian film producer and film director best known for his music videos. He has directed and produced videos for artists such as Queen, Tom Waits, the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Sandra Cretu, and Whitney Houston.

For his work in the music industry, Dolezal was nominated for two Grammy Awards. He is the recipient of three Romy Awards and two Rose d'Ors. Among his best known works are the documentary Freddie Mercury – The Untold Story (2000), which earned him his second Grammy Award nomination, the documentary TV series Weltberühmt in Österreich – 50 Jahre Austropop (2006), and Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017), a documentary film co-directed by Dolezal and created from more than one hundred hours of footage filmed by Dolezal in 1999.

Early life Dolezal was born in Vienna on 5 February 1958. He grew up in Vienna's 19th district. He was trained in classical music, but always had a passion for rock 'n' roll.

He started to work in the film industry at 17. which started airing in December 1993. Dolezal has won numerous awards in the film, television and music sectors.

Dolezal has filmed documentaries on Freddie Mercury, including Lover of Life, Singer of Songs. He also produced music videos for Falco, such as the music video for "Rock Me Amadeus". Since 2015, he has hosted a music documentary series called Dolezal Backstage on Servus TV, in which he tells stories of his life, illustrated with archive footage, and talks about his encounters with music greats such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Zappa, The Rolling Stones, and others.

Collaboration with Queen Dolezal and Mercury first met when the Austrian director and film producer was working as a reporter for a German television, during an interview with the band. After the interview, he made a "tongue-in-cheek remark", telling Mercury to give him a call if he needed a good director for his next videos. Dolezal was finishing a music video for Houston when the singer traveled to Austria to give her "final approval". Since Houston was "looking to kill some time after they were done", Dolezal showed her some of his other work. He showed her his Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story, and a documentary he made for the Rolling Stones. While watching the latter she told Dolezal, halfway through the documentary, "Rudi, I want you to do a film like this about me".

Dolezal has received three Romy awards, most recently in 2008 – together with Rossacher – for the documentary series Weltberühmt in Österreich – 50 Jahre Austropop.

Personal life Dolezal has two children, Benny and Ruby, with former wife Martina Pauser.

He has a second home in Miami Beach, where he has been living since 2006.

Awards and nominations