Per Holst: Danish Filmmaker-Producer Dies At 86
The Hollywood Reporter cited one of his four
sons, actor Morten Holst. A cause of death was not given.
According to Denmark’s government-owned broadcast
channel TV 2, son Anders Holst
explained his father died peacefully in his sleep Saturday morning. “He leaves
behind a cultural legacy that we are proud of on his behalf,” Anders Holst told
the outlet, adding, “He has been active until the end. Of course not like in
his youth, but to the extent he could. He loved to read, watch and talk about
films.”
As a prolific producer of dozens of
films beginning in the late ’60s, Holst helped bring to life the visions of
Trier (1987’s The
Element of Crime), Malmros (1981’s Tree of Knowledge, 1983’s Beauty
and the Beast, 1992’s Pain of Love and 1997’s Barbara) and
August (1983’s Zappa, 1984’s Twist & Shout and 1987’s Pelle
the Conqueror, which won the 1988 Palme
d’Or at Cannes Film Festival and the 1989 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film,
giving Denmark a consecutive win in the category after the previous year’s Babette’s
Feast)
Per Holst also directed 1985’s Walter and Carlo
— Up on Daddy’s Hat, the first in the ’80s buddy comedy film series, which
still occupies the No. 4 slot on the list of
highest-grossing Danish films.
In 1965, he founded his own production company, Per
Holst Film, and under that banner broke through as a producer with the cartoon Benny’s
Bathtub in 1971. Throughout the years, he has held a number of posts at
leading film organizations, including as the chairman of the board of the
European Film Academy (2000-05) and director of distribution company Nordisk
Film (1991-2002, where he first began his career)
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