Dornhelm's challenging work on the epic 4 hour mini-series TEN COMMANDMENTS earned ABC TV its biggest movie ratings in 2006. Subsequently the director filmed an eight part WAR AND PEACE in Italy, Lithuania, Germany and Russia in a monumental 8 hour recreation of the Tolstoy epic for RAI and German TV, the film was made for Jan Mojto's EOS Productions. Preceding that, the tragic story of Rudolph, heir to the doomed Austro-Hungarian Empire, was filmed both as a feature film and as a two-part miniseries. A doomed love affair that took place in the late 19th Century at the romantic country estate of Mayerling, where Rudolf, the liberal, free-thinking royal was caught in a political vortex not of his choosing. THE CROWN PRINCE returned Dornhelm to European filmmaking, shooting in Vienna, his adoptive home since 1960 as well as Prague and Budapest. A co-production between Austria, Germany, Italy and France, the film features some of Europe's brightest emerging talent.

By winning broad acclaim not only for 2001's ABC's Emmy-winning mini-series ANNE FRANK but also for his USA Networks projects RUDY (featuring an extraordinary performance by James Woods as New York's pugnacious Mayor Giuliani) and SPARTACUS (a vigorous 21st century update of the Howard Fast classic starring E.R's Goran Visnjic as leader of the rebellious slaves, Dornhelm has established himself as a contemporary filmmaker of great range and versatility. While helming SPARTACUS (which besides Visnjic also featured the late Alan Bates and Rhona Mitra), Dornhelm skillfully managed a crew of 400 and a cast of 12,000 extras. His work brought him to the attention of Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks SKG, who hired Dornhelm to shoot the first episode of their ...cont'd