The Biography

Johan Jacobsen (14 March 1912 – 7 July 1972) was a Danish film director. His parents were theatre manager Jacob Jørgen Jacobsen (1865–1955) and actress Christel Holch (1886–1968). In the 1940s, Jacobsen directed a number of both popular and critically acclaimed films for the film studio Palladium. From 1947 on, he was an independent director and producer. He produced his own films and those of his partner Annelise Hovmand (1924–2016) at his own film studio, Flamingo. In 1959, he was a member of the jury at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. His A Stranger Knocks (1959) was in competition at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1960. It was distributed in the US by Trans-Lux and played a major part in bringing down the American State Film Censorship system in 1965. In his last years, Jacobsen worked for tycoon Simon Spies (1921–1984) at his cinema, Merkur Bio, in Copenhagen.