Erik Balling

Writing

Erik Balling

Born November 29, 1924 · Nyborg, Danmark

Died November 19, 2005 · aged 80

Erik Balling was one of the most beloved Danish filmmaker in the 20th century. Balling was a director, a producer and a writer. Erik Balling was mostly famous for creating such TV epics as "Matador" and "Huset På Christianshavn" and the film-series of "Olsen banden". Erik Balling was born the 19th of November 1925 in the Danish city of Nyborg, as a son of a priest. In 1946 Balling was hired as an …

Known For

6-Day Race6-Day Race · 1958
6-Day Race
8.01958
MovieDrama
Semi documentary on a famous cycle race in Copenhagen. The story is about the competition between the riders as well as about their private and marital struggles.
One of Those ThingsOne of Those Things · 1971
One of Those Things
9.01971
MovieDrama
A successful auto executive Vinther becomes entwined with a young nubile girl, following an avoidable car accident, that results in the death of a man. The girl mentally blackmails our executive through manipulation leading to an affair that threatens Vinther's career and marriage.
Den kære familieDen kære familie · 1962
Den kære familie
7.21962
MovieComedy
Copenhagen around the turn of the century - December 29th, 1899. Great merchant and shipowner Jacob Friis is one of Copenhagen's richest men. His home is the gathering place for family and friends. Since his wife's dead 10 years earlier, he shares sense of family and business acumen with his three daughters. Jacob wants to find a nobleman for his daughter Emily. Baron Claes is a very charming gentleman, but also a great womanizer...
The Olsen GangThe Olsen Gang · 1969
The Olsen Gang
7.51969
MovieComedyCrime
Egon Olsen is the leader of the Olsen Gang. While he was in the slammer, he planned how he would steal the fantastic golden figure Keizeroppzatsen.
The Olsen Gang Sees RedThe Olsen Gang Sees Red · 1976
The Olsen Gang Sees Red
7.41976
MovieFamilyComedy
Egon and the gang are hired to stage a robbery of an antique Chinese vase for an economically challenged baron. Naturally they fooled, which infuriates Egon. The gang tries to get back at the baron by switching the vase with a cheap Hong Kong copy. One attempt is made during the barons hunting party, where Egon ends up being bricked up in the catacombs. In another attempt, the gang has to coordinate breaking through several walls at The Royal Theater in Copenhagen with the "Elverhøj" overture.
The Olsen GangThe Olsen Gang · 1968
The Olsen Gang
7.01968
MovieFamilyComedy
The first of 14 Olsen Gang films presents us with Egon Olsen, head of the gang, and his friends Benny and Kjeld, who want to become the best known gang in Denmark and eventually Europe by stealing a famous Bavarian work of art currently displayed in a Copenhagen museum. Although Egon's plan works out fine, there is only trouble ahead for the little gang.
Kassen stemmerKassen stemmer · 1976
Kassen stemmer
5.41976
MovieComedyCrime
Three young men discover a scam that three somewhat older gentlemen from Aarhus' upper class have set up to avoid bankruptcy. The gentlemen directors have both accounts and safe deposit boxes at the bank branch where one of the young men works, so it seems only natural to give the swindlers a taste of their own medicine, so to speak. The situation is further complicated when a journalist gets wind of the double heist and wants his share of the pie.
The Jönsson Gang & Dynamite HarryThe Jönsson Gang & Dynamite Harry · 1982
The Jönsson Gang & Dynamite Harry
6.01982
MovieComedyCrime
Sickan, Vanheden and Rocky try to rob the Berns nightclub one night, but Vanheden has made the mistake to invite his constantly drunk cousin, the old dynamiter Dynamite-Harry and he ruins the plan. Sickan is arrested, and has to spend 10 months in a small, locked room. When he is released, he has a new plan, but Rocky and Vanheden have decided to go straight. Together with Dynamite-Harry, Sickan plans to rob a cold store, managed by their arch-enemy, Wall-Enberg.

Filmography

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The Olsen Gang in JutlandThe Olsen Gang in Jutland · 1971
The Olsen Gang in Jutland
7.01971
MovieFamilyComedy
The Olsen gang in Jutland. Ones again Egon Olsen has a plan when he gets out of Vridslose State Prison. He has found out that the Germans left a large sum of money (in American dollars and gold bars) in one of their commando bunkers, when they were defeated in 1945; the only problem it's in Jutland. Egon, Benny and Kjeld "appropriate" a car and drives to Jutland along with Kjelds wife and child Yvonne and Borge. They look forward to fooling the the people in Jutland, but of course, things don't go quite as planed. It ends with Benny, Kjeld, Borge and Yvonne sitting in the train back to Copenhagen, were they are overtaken by Egon in his car on the road next to the track. This is the last time the Olsen gang goes to Jutland.

Director

The House at ChristianshavnThe House at Christianshavn · 1970
The House at Christianshavn
8.01970
SeriesComedyDrama
The series follows the residents of an apartment building on Copenhagen's Christianshavn, as they go about their daily lives and challenges. There is Olsen, a mover with an old fashion view of the world, Clausen who runs the local pet shop, Egon the career focused assistant, their wives who work hard to keep their spouses lives together, the young couple Tue and Rikke who recently moved in, the hard working caretaker Meyer, who never puts in to much effort, and of course Emma, the innkeeper of Rottehullet, where all the important decisions are made while running up the bar tab. The series was produced by Nordisk Film for Danmarks Radio TV station between the years 1970-77. The series' first director was Ebbe Langberg, then Erik Balling and Tom Hedegaard respectively. The series was conceived by an author team of well-known Danish authors such Leif Panduro, Benny Andersen, and Lise Nørgaard.

Director

MatadorMatador · 1978
Matador
9.11978
SeriesDrama
Matador is a Danish TV series produced and shown between 1978 and 1982. It is set in the fictional Danish town of Korsbæk between 1929 and 1947. It follows the lives of a range of characters from across the social spectrum, focusing specifically on the rivalry between the families of two businessmen: The banker Hans Christian Varnæs, an established local worthy, and social climber Mads Skjern, who arrives in town as the series opens. The name Matador was taken from the localised edition of the boardgame Monopoly, also the series' tentative English title. In addition, in contemporary Danish a "matador" is often used to describe a business tycoon, in the series referring to the character of Mads Skjern and his craftiness as a self-made entrepreneur. Directed by famed Danish film maker Erik Balling, Matador was the idea of author Lise Nørgaard who wrote the bulk of the episodes alongside Karen Smith, Jens Louis Petersen and Paul Hammerich. The series is one of the most well-known and popular examples of Danish television and represents the peak of longtime development of Danish TV drama by the public service channel Danmarks Radio. The series has become part of the modern self-understanding of Danes, partly because of its successful mix of melodrama and a distinct warm Danish humour in the depiction of characters, which were portrayed by a wide range of the most popular Danish actors at the time; but also not least because of its accurate portrayal of a turbulent Denmark from around the start of the Great Depression and through Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark in World War II.

Director