Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Helga Ballhaus

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Helga Maria Betten was Born in Germany on September 14, 1935. She was a German actress, producer, production, set and costume designer.

Helga Betten began her career in 1952 as an actress at the Franconian Theatre in Wetzhausen. She was a permanent member of the local theatre community for several years and also met the son of the theatre's founders, Michael Ballhaus, here.

From 1958 Betten played at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, from 1968 at the Freie Volksbühne Berlin under Rainer Werner Fassbinder and was from 1974 to 1977 Ensemble member of the TAT - Theater am Turm in Frankfurt, also under Fassbinder. Until the 1970s, Helga Ballhaus was also repeatedly engaged as a guest at the Franconian Theatre Schloss Maßbach.

As a film actress, she starred in Fassbinder's "Angst essen Seele auf" (1974), among others. In 1979, together with Norbert Scherer, she received the German Film Award in Gold for her production design in "The Marriage of Maria Braun". In 1999, she produced the feature film "The Thirteenth Floor", which was nominated for the Saturn Award in 2000.

She married cinematographer Michael Ballhaus [1935-2006] in 1960 and worked with her husband and their sons Sebastian [1962- ] and Florian [1965- ].

Helga died in Los Angeles, California on September 28, 2006, two weeks after her 71^st birthday.

As Helga Ballhaus she appeared in only one Euro-western as the judge’s wife in 1971’s “Whity”.

BALLHAUS, Helga (Helga Maria Betten) [9/14/1935, Germany – 9/28/2006, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.] - producer, art director, costume, set designer, theater, , film actress married to producer, director, writer, cinematographer, cameraman, film editor, actor, Michael Ballhaus [1935–2006] (1958-2006) mother of producer, assistant director, cameraman Jan Sebastian Ballhaus [1962-    ], cinematographer, cameraman Florian Ballhaus [1965-    ].

Whity – 1971 (judge’s wife)