EKHOF, KONRAD (172o-1778), German actor, was born in Hamburg on Aug. 12, 1720. In 1739 he became a member of Johann Friedrich Schonemann's (1704-1782) company in Liine burg, and made his first apearance there on Jan. 15, 174o as Xiphares in Racine's Mithridate. From 1751 the Schonemann company performed mainly in Hamburg and at Schwerin, where Duke Christian Louis II. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin made them comedians to the court. During this period Ekhof founded a theatrical academy. In 1757 Ekhof left Schonemann to join Franz Schuch's company at Danzig; but he soon returned to Hamburg, where, with two other actors, he succeeded Schone mann in the direction of the company. He resigned in favour of H. G. Koch, with whom he acted until 1764, when he joined K. E. Ackermann's company. In 1767 was founded the National theatre at Hamburg, made famous by Lessing's Hamburgische Drama turgie, and Ekhof was the leading member of the company. Ekhof became, in 1775, co-director of the new court theatre at Gotha, the first permanently established theatre in Germany. Goethe called Ekhof the only German tragic actor; and in 1777 he acted with Goethe and Duke Charles Augustus at a private performance at Weimar. He died on June 16, 1778. He was regarded by his contemporaries as an unsurpassed exponent of naturalness on the stage; and he has been not unfairly compared with Garrick. His fame, however, was rapidly eclipsed by that of Friedrich U. L. Schroder.
See H. Uhde, biography of Ekhof in vol. iv. of Der neue Plutarch (1876) ; J. Kerschner, K. Ekhofs Leben and Wirken (1872) ; H. Devrient, J. F. Schonemann and seine Schauspielergesellschaft Landau, Mimen (1912) .