Thimig, Helene

ACTOR (AUSTRIA)
BORN 5 Jun 1889, Wien - DIED 7 Nov 1974, Wien
CAUSE OF DEATH heart failure
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Neustift am Walde Friedhof, Pötzleinsdorfer Höhe 2 (Gruppe N, Reihe 10, Nr. 69 (Ehrengrab))

Helene Thimig was the daughter of actor Hugo Thimig, who was director of the Burgtheater in Vienna from 1912 until 1918. After she visited a girls' school in Vienna she was taught acting by her father and by Hedwig Bleibtreu.

After gaining some experience in Vienna, she worked at Meiningen for a few years. In 1914 she was employed by Max Reinhardt at the Königliche Schauspielhaus (Royal Theatre) in Berlin. Between 1916 and 1918 she was married to the actor Paul Kalbeck. From 1917 until 1933 she was engaged at the Deutschen Theater in Berlin. After the nazis came to power in 1933 she moved to Austria, where she worked at the Theater in der Jozefstadt in Vienna, which was also managed my Max Reinhardt. She married Reinhardt in 1935. In 1937 they emigrated to the USA, where they founded an acting school.

After Reinhardt died in 1943 Helene Thimig stayed in the USA until the end of the War. Apart from her work as a teacher she played several small parts in movies. In 1946 she returned to Europe, where she became a director at the Festspiele in Salzburg. There she resumed her part as 'Glauben' in Hoffmannthal's "Jedermann" and she also directed the productions in front of the Dom of Salzburg.

She also returned to the Burgtheater and the Theater in der Josefstadt. From 1948 until 1959 she was the manager of the Max Reinhardt Seminar. She was also a professor at the Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Academy for Music and Performing Arts) in Vienna.

Her third husband from 1948 onwards was the actor Anton Edthofer. From 1947 to 1970 she often lived in Strobl am Wolfgangsee where a monument for her can be found since 2005. Edthofer died in 1971 and the last year of her life she lived in the house of Michael Heltau and Loek Huisman. She died in 1974 in Vienna of heart failure and her ashes were interred at the Feuerhalle Simmering in Vienna. On 17 June 2015 her urn was moved to a grave at the Neustift am Walde cemetery in Vienna. After Huisman died in 2018 he was buried in the same grave.

Family
 • Father: Thimig, Hugo
• Husband: Reinhardt, Max (1935-1943, Reno, Nevada)
• Brother: Thimig, Hermann

Related persons
 • was pupil of Bleibtreu, Hedwig
• was pupil of Thimig, Hugo

Events
16/2/1932Premiere of Max Reinhardt's adaption of Hauptmann's "Vor Sonnenuntergang" at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. It was directed by Max Reinhardt. The scenery was designed by Ernst Schütte. The cast included Werner Krauss, Mathias Wieman, Hans Brausewetter, Eleonora von Mendelsson, Käthe Haack, Oskar Sima, Maria Koppenhöfer, Eduard von Winsterstein, Paul Henckels, Helene Fehdmer, Paul Otto, Paul Biensfeldt, Max Gülstorff, Ludwig Stössel and Helene Thimig. [Brausewetter, Hans][Fehdmer-Kayssler, Helene][Haack, Käthe][Koppenhöfer, Maria][Krauss, Werner][Reinhardt, Max][Winterstein, Eduard von]

Images

Thegrave of Helene Thimig at the urn wall of the Feuerhalle Simmering, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (25 Aug 2005)
 
Thegrave of Helene Thimig at the urn wall of the Feuerhalle Simmering, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (25 Aug 2005)
 
Helene Thimig. [Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division]
 

Helene Thimig.
Picture by Phot. Becker & Maass
 
The former gravesite of Helene Thimig at the Feuerhalle Simmering, Vienna. Her urn moved within the building from a different location after 2005.
Picture by Androom (12 Aug 2010)
 
The grave of Helene Thimig and Loek Huisman at Friedhof Neustift am Walde, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (30 Aug 2024)
 

Sources
 • Blubacher, Thomas, Gibt es etwas Schöneres als Sehnsucht?, Die Geschwister Eleonora und Francesco von Mendelssohn, Henschel Verlag, Leipzig, 2008
• Wurm, Ernst, Helene Thimig, Bildnis einer Persönlichkeit, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst, Wien, 1969
• Helene Thimig


Thimig, Hermann

Published: 09 Jul 2006
Last update: 08 Dec 2024