
Acting
Jul 18, 1934
Gombong
Willem Nijholt
Acting
Biography
Willem Adrianus Nijholt (1934-2023) was a Dutch actor, dancer and singer who has been immensely successful in Dutch theatre, film and tv. In his later career he would frequently act as jury member, teacher and trainer of young talent.
Feature Films (24)

Lovable Amsterdam street urchin, 11 year old Ciske is nevertheless much in need of love as the Dutch 1984 title suggests. He is a scamp with a heart of gold. He causes havoc in the classroom pouring ink over his teacher yet when a polio-crippled boy joins the class Ciske is one of the only children to befriend him and is bullied as a result. His mother works in a bar and Ciske helps out often late into the night - his father is at sea and his mother supplements her income with prostitution. Ciske is also a very angry young man and he smoulders with rage at life's injustices.
Ciske the Rat

For all his life Frank Goudvis has tried not to follow in the footsteps of his father. When his father is mysteriously murdered, Frank loses his alibi for his cherished passivity and decides to travel to the crime scene.
De nietsnut

Two friends meet again in the autumn of their lives. They have not seen each other for years, but soon find their renewed friendship put to the test when one of them falls ill and the other loses his newfound love.
Friendship

When his wife Lydia commits suicide, succesful attorney Robert Havinck is freed from his unhappy marriage. Unfortunately, it turns out she took a complete stranger along with her, and a feeling of guilt and curiosity about her motives lead Havinck to team up with his fifteen-year old daughter to explore Lydia's final days.
Havinck

This film was shot entirely in Rotterdam and shows the German couple David (Helmut Berger) and Tanya (Sheri Hagen) who are kept by Ludwig (Udo Kier), David's half-brother. Ludwig has some dubious business to do and so he is staying in the port for a while. David and Tanya have followed him and are staying in a hotel. They pass the time committing robberies. When David finds a photo of an attractive young man among the booty of a robbery, his life is turned upside down. He will have to close the door on a suffocating past.
Under the Palms

Adaptation for television of the stage play of the same name by the Dutch playwright Herman Heijermans. When lodger Eva Bonheur lends her landlady Mop two thousand pounds and Mop is unable to repay her, Bonheur gets control of the house and decides to put Mop, her husband Jasper and their daughter Miep out on the street.
Eva Bonheur

Young journalist has an interview with a succesfull gay playwright who likes to write frankly about sex. At first the interviewee responds cynical and distant, but after a while the tone of the conversation changes. This is because the playwright notices the journalist more than admires him.
Respect

At the invitation of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Dutch conductor Jules Coulée returns to the Netherlands to conduct a one-off performance of Third Symphony by Gustav Mahler. Coulée is unpleasantly surprised when he sees that the Concertgebouw is under construction and that the renovations continue during rehearsals. In addition, the acoustics of the hall are terribly bad and the balcony too close, so that the post horn solo in the third movement cannot possibly come from afar, as the score prescribes. For Coulée, the entire implementation stands or falls with this detail.
Wie aus Weiter Ferne

October 1997. Paul Winters (35) is deputy public prosecutor in Arnhem and is working on his first major case: an investigation in to the allegations of a Bosnian girl that she was raped by three soldiers in the Dutch UN contingent and whose brother is alleged to have been killed by them. Winters suspects that the girl is telling the truth, but he can't prove it and the case is adjourned. Then one of the men gives a revealing statement that throws a different light on the case. Winters argues in favour of reopening the case, but faces opposition from an unexpected quarter.
Mates

Filmmaker Louis van Gasteren reconstructs the life of Amsterdam poet, composer and actor Hans van Sweeden, who took his own life at the age of twenty-four in 1963. Through interviews with friends, relatives and contemporaries, alongside archival material, the film becomes both an intimate portrait of Van Sweeden and a broader account of a young generation searching for freedom, identity and new ways of living in Amsterdam during the 1950s and 1960s.
Hans, Life Before Death
Television & Series (18)

Six friends from college in post-war Europe form a bond. Thirty years on, one of them writes a book on it, calling it the tombstone to their friendship, exposing their bond, analyzing, then totally destroying the false imprints of their alleged connections. A final get-together brings it all out into the open. Based on J.J. Voskuil's novel "Bij Nader Inzien".
Bij Nader Inzien

Willem van Oranje tells the remarkable life story of our Father of the Fatherland. Although loyal to the Spanish crown, Willem van Oranje-Nassau has moral objections when he hears Philip II's plans. Bloody inquisitions are being planned against the Protestants in Europe, which will not spare the Dutch people either. Although Catholic, William was absolutely opposed to any form of infringement on religious freedom. Friendship and love, but also intrigue and betrayal, were all part of the fascinating life of the founder of the current Dutch Royal House.
Willem van Oranje

Op zoek naar Mary Poppins was a 2009 talent show-themed television series produced by the AVRO in the Netherlands and broadcast on AVRO. It premiered in late August 2009. The show searched for a new, unknown lead to play Mary Poppins in a Dutch production of the Dutch musical Mary Poppins. The show was hosted by Frits Sissing with Willem Nijholt again overseeing the programme. In the final, on 24 January, Noortje Herlaar was announced as the winner of the series.
Op zoek naar Mary Poppins

Op zoek naar Joseph was a 2008 talent show-themed television series produced by the AVRO in the Netherlands. It searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a 2009 Dutch revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The show was hosted by Frits Sissing, who announced Freek Bartels as the winner of the final public telephone vote on 26 October 2008. It was the second Dutch talent show to be produced by the AVRO/Willem Nijholt, after Op zoek naar Evita. A third talent show, this time called Op zoek naar Mary Poppins has since aired in full and Op zoek naar Zorro will air in late 2010. A similar format has been used as well in the United Kingdom in 2007, with the show Any Dream Will Do taking an unknown singer and placing the winner in the lead role for the 2007 performances in the West End. On June 9, 2007, Lee Mead was announced the winner of this show. It is speculated that a Canadian Edition will be produced in the wake of Mirvish Production's Production of the same musical.








