# Bernd Eichinger

Bernd Eichinger (German: ; 11 April 1949 – 24 January 2011) was a German film producer, screenwriter, and director.

## Life and career

Eichinger was born in Neuburg an der Donau. He attended the University of Television and Film Munich in the 1970s and bought a stake in the fledgling studio company Neue Constantin Film in 1979, becoming its executive director. Under his leadership, Constantin Film evolved into one of the most successful German film businesses. As of 2005, he was chairman of the supervisory board and still owned a substantial stake in the company. Eichinger also produced some movies independently (for example, Downfall). One of Eichinger's last films was about the left-wing terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF) and based on the book Der Baader Meinhof Komplex ("The Baader-Meinhof Complex") by Stefan Aust.
The range of genres of films, for television and the big screen, was unusually varied. He produced a 3D zombie movie, Resident Evil: Afterlife; to Atomised, a film adaptation of novel by French star writer and social critic Michel Houellebecq. He was an incredibly prolific film maker, with almost 100 films to his credit.
Eichinger was known as tenacious. It took him 20 years to convince Patrick Süskind, the German author of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, to trust him with the rights to make the international bestseller into a film. In 2006, the film was released, grossing $135 million worldwide.
In the 1980s, Eichinger obtained the film rights to the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer, decades before making movies based on Marvel comics was trending.
In 1991, he was a co-founder of Summit, the Los Angeles-based production and film sales company. Due to the success of Twilight, Summit eventually became Summit Entertainment.

## Family

Eichinger was married to Katja Hofmann, a journalist. He had a daughter from a previous relationship, Nina Eichinger, an actress and TV presenter.

## Death

Eichinger died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on 24 January 2011 at the age of 61.

## Awards

* 1984 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Producing
* 1986 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Producing
* 1993 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Producing

## Selected filmography

Bernd Eichinger's best known films include:
| Year | Title | Director | Based on | Language | Notes |
| 1977 | Grete Minde | Heidi Genée | A novel by Theodor Fontane | German | |
| 1977 | Die Konsequenz | Wolfgang Petersen | An autobiographical novel by Alexander Ziegler | German | TV film |
| 1977 | Hitler: A Film from Germany | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | | German | |
| 1978 | The Glass Cell | Hans W. Geißendörfer | The Glass Cell by Patricia Highsmith | German | |
| 1981 | Christiane F. | Uli Edel | The non-fiction book by Kai Hermann and Horst Rieck about Christiane F. | German | |
| 1984 | The Neverending Story | Wolfgang Petersen | The Neverending Story by Michael Ende | English | |
| 1986 | The Name of the Rose | Jean-Jacques Annaud | The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco | English | |
| 1987 | Der Unsichtbare | Ulf Miehe | | German | |
| 1988 | Me and Him | Doris Dörrie | A novel by Alberto Moravia | English | |
| 1989 | Last Exit to Brooklyn | Uli Edel | Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. | English | |
| 1990 | Fire, Ice and Dynamite | Willy Bogner | | English | |
| 1990 | Werner – Beinhart! | Gerhard Hahn [de], Michael Schaack [de], Niki List [de] | The Werner comic books by Rötger Feldmann | German | |
| 1991 | Manta, Manta | Wolfgang Büld [de] | | German | |
| 1992 | Salt on Our Skin | Andrew Birkin | A novel by Benoîte Groult | English | |
| 1993 | The Cement Garden | Andrew Birkin | The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan | English | |
| 1993 | The House of the Spirits | Bille August | The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende | English | |
| 1994 | The Fantastic Four | Oley Sassone | Fantastic Four by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee | English | Unreleased |
| 1994 | Der bewegte Mann | Sönke Wortmann | Two comic books by Ralf König | German | |
| 1996 | The Superwife | Sönke Wortmann | A novel by Hera Lind [de] | German | |
| 1996 | A Girl Called Rosemary | Bernd Eichinger | Rosemary (1958) | German | TV film |
| 1997 | Smilla's Sense of Snow | Bille August | Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg | English | |
| 1997 | Prince Valiant | Anthony Hickox | Prince Valiant by Hal Foster | English | |
| 1998 | Wrongfully Accused | Pat Proft | | English | |
| 1999 | The Devil and Ms. D [de] | Bernd Eichinger | A novel by Helmut Krausser | German | also screenwriter |
| 2000 | Ants in the Pants | Marc Rothemund | | German | |
| 2001 | The Mists of Avalon | Uli Edel | The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley | English | TV film |
| 2001 | Nowhere in Africa | Caroline Link | An autobiographical novel by Stefanie Zweig | German | co-produced by Eichinger; won Oscar |
| 2002 | 666 – Traue keinem, mit dem du schläfst! | Rainer Matsutani [de] | | German | |
| 2002 | Resident Evil | Paul W. S. Anderson | Resident Evil | English | |
| 2004 | Downfall | Oliver Hirschbiegel | | German | also screenwriter |
| 2004 | Resident Evil: Apocalypse | Alexander Witt | Resident Evil | English | |
| 2005 | Fantastic Four | Tim Story | Fantastic Four by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee | English | |
| 2006 | Atomised | Oskar Roehler | Atomised by Michel Houellebecq | German | |
| 2006 | DOA: Dead or Alive | Corey Yuen | Dead or Alive | English | |
| 2006 | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Tom Tykwer | Perfume by Patrick Süskind | English | co-writer |
| 2007 | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | Tim Story | Fantastic Four by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee | English | |
| 2007 | Resident Evil: Extinction | Russell Mulcahy | Resident Evil | English | |
| 2007 | Pornorama | Marc Rothemund | | German | |
| 2008 | The Baader Meinhof Complex | Uli Edel | The non-fiction book by Stefan Aust about the Red Army Faction | German | also screenwriter |
| 2009 | Pope Joan | Sönke Wortmann | Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross | English | |
| 2010 | Zeiten ändern dich | Uli Edel | The autobiography of the German rapper Bushido | German | co-writer |
| 2010 | Resident Evil: Afterlife | Paul W. S. Anderson | Resident Evil | English | |
| 2011 | 3096 Days | Sherry Hormann | | English | |