Background
Helmut Kautner was born on 25 March 1908 in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Helmut Kautner was born on 25 March 1908 in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
After studying art history, philology, and theatre at Munich University, Kautner wrote and directed cabaret and stage productions
He also worked as an actor—Kreuzer Emden (32, Louis Halph)— and appeared in many of his own early films. He came to prominence in the years after 1945 and was associated with several worthy, prestigious, and dull movies: Des Teufels General, with Curt Jurgens in the Zuckmayer play; O. W. Fischer as Ludwig II; an adaptation of his own play, Himmel ohne Sterne; Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, from a Zuckmayer script; and Der Rest ist Schweigen, a Hamlet in modern Germany with Hardy Kruger as the prince. Belatedly, he went to Hollywood in 1957, but only to direct two clotted weepies at Universal: The Wonderful Years, with Teresa Wright, and a June Allvson-Jeff Chandler picture, A Stranger in My Arms.
He played the lead in Karl May (74, Hans-Jurgen Svberberg).