Johannes "Joop" Adrianus van den Ende is a Dutch media tycoon, theatrical producer, co-founder of Endemol and founder/owner of Stage Entertainment. Joop van den Ende has produced many plays, musicals, revues, films and television programmes over the last 35 years. In 1969 he started his career as an independent theatre and television producer. Under his guidance, a new musical tradition developed in the Netherlands. Hundreds of television productions were created in his own studio complex in Aalsmeer. In 1993 Van den Ende and his competitor John de Mol created television production company Endemol, combining the efforts of their respective TV companies. Endemol is the producer of popular TV formats such as Big Brother and is active in 25 countries on five continents. Endemol was listed on the stock exchange in 1996 and was sold to the Spanish telecom giant Telef�nica in 2000 for ?5.5bn.. In 1998, before the sale of the company, Joop van den Ende bought the Endemol live entertainment division. This was the beginning of Stage Entertainment, an international entertainment group with theatres, productions, offices and ticket sale organisations in eight countries. 

February 23rd, 1942 in Amsterdam (Age 82)