- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMichael Andreas Helmuth Ende
- Born 1929 in Germany as son of a surrealist painter who was banned by the Nazis in 1936. Went to Waldorf-school and deserted when he was called to the army at age of 16 in 1945. After the war he became an actor, critic and finally writer. His first big success was the children's book "Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivfuehrer" (Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine-driver). Although he got much praise and many awards he remained modest, almost shy, preferring his fantasy world but still keeping an eye on the real world in his stories.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
- His parents are Luise Ende (1892-1973) and Edgar Ende (1901-1965). His father, Edgar Carl Alfons Ende, was a surrealist painter; his art was considered "degenerate" during the Nazi era, which is why he was banned from exhibiting by the Reich Chamber of Culture in 1933. While still at school, Michael Ende drew attention to himself through his vivid imagination in numerous essays and short stories. He grew up during the Second World War and experienced the bombing and extensive destruction of Hamburg first hand in 1943. There he was supposed to be drafted into the Waffen-SS in 1945, but Ende defied the order and fled to his mother in Munich. During this time, the father was taken prisoner by the Americans. In 1946, Michael Ende was able to attend a high school in Munich again. But he soon moved to the Waldorf School in Stuttgart.
In 1947 his first text, "The Gaukler," was published in a newspaper. Ende, however, had the desire to become an actor, and so in 1948 he attended the Otto Falckenberg acting school at the Munich Kammerspiele. There he studied classical and modern acting theories for two years. He then received an engagement at the Schleswig-Holstein State Theater. From 1954 to 1962, Michael Ende worked as an employee and film critic for Bayerischer Rundfunk, but the salary was not enough to survive. So he began to write sketches and cabaret pieces such as "The Little Fishes", a sketch from 1955 on the 150th anniversary of Friedrich von Schiller's death. One of his first successful and best-known works is the children's story of "Jim Knopf" and "Lukas" , the locomotive driver, which was first published with great success in 1960 and was promptly awarded the German Youth Book Prize. Michael Ende first gained popularity.
In 1962 the second volume "Jim Knopf and the Wild Thirteen" was published. The book was published in several languages and Ende achieved financial independence. On August 7, 1964, Michael Ende married the actress Ingeborg Hoffmann, whom he had known since 1952. They moved together to Genzano near Rome. Ende enjoyed the freedom and tolerance in Italy, but in Germany he felt restricted. In the context of the escapism debate, his texts were labeled as escape literature because they were not only socially critical or political in nature. The international breakthrough came at the end of 1972 with the touching fairy tale novel of little "Momo", which was made into a film in 1986 with, among others, Armin Mueller-Stahl. The book took him six years of work and was again awarded the German Youth Book Prize in 1974.
One of his best-known works is "The Neverending Story" from 1979, for which Michael was awarded the European Youth Book Prize at the end of 1981. In The Neverending Story, Ende describes the land of Phantasia, which only exists in our imagination. But since people lose their imagination, "Phantasia" is destroyed by "Nothingness", and only the boy Sebastian can save the "Childlike Empress" and thus the realm of fantasy. During the filming of "The Neverending Story" there were disputes with the producers regarding the content. Ende then withdrew his name and fought a long and unsuccessful lawsuit to have some scenes deleted - the film was still released in cinemas in 1984. In the same year, 1984, the well-known work "Der Spiegel im Spiegel" was published. The individual stories in the book are linked to one another and refer to one another. In March 1985 his wife Ingeborg died. Ende then gave up his residence in Italy and moved back to Munich.
In 1988 he published the non-fiction book "Art and Politics - a Conversation by Joseph Beuys/Michael Ende". In 1989, Michel Ende married Mariko Sato for the second time. On his 60th birthday he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. In the 1990s, novels such as "The Long Road to Santa Cruz", "The Full Moon Legend" and "Lirum Larum Willi Why" followed with much attention. His last works include "The Story of the Bowl and the Spoon," which was published posthumously in 1996. Michael Ende has received numerous awards for his literary work.
Michael Ende died of stomach cancer on August 28, 1995 in Filderstadt-Bonlanden near Stuttgart.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth
- SpousesMariko Sato(September 1989 - September 28, 1995) (his death)Ingeborg Hoffmann(1964 - March 27, 1985) (her death)
- Ende's book "The NeverEnding Story" inspired the name of three different music bands: the American Metalcore Atreyu (Childlike Empress' medallion), and two Spanish; the boyband Pop Auryn (Greenskin child and hunter from the Grassy Ocean) and the indie Rock Vetusta Morla (Morla the giant Turtle).
- [on The NeverEnding Story (1984), based on his 1979 novel] That revolting movie...a gigantic melodrama of kitsch, commerce, plush and plastic... The makers of the film simply did not understand the book at all. They just wanted to make money.
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