He made first experiences in the film business as an assistant of the actor and director Willi Forst before he realised his first movie as a cinematographer with "Blumen aus Nizza" (1936).
Till the end of World War II followed only few more movies where he worked behind the camera like "Nastradin Hodzha i Hitar Petar" (1939) and "Blonde Frau übern kurzen Weg" (1940). Beside it he was active as a war correspondent in the function of a photographer.
The cinematographer Hans Heinz Theyer was born as the son of the well-known cinematographer Hans Theyer. It was obvious that Hans Heinz Theyer also chose his profession in this environment.
He became a prisoner of the war by the Russians and was only able to return to his home in 1948.
His first contact with the film business was not as a cinematographer but as a child actor. He took part in the movie "Gullivers Reisen" (1924).
After his traumatic experience as a prisoner of war he could continue his former initiated career as a cinematographer and he became a demanded man behind the camera in the next years, often for movies directed by Franz Antel.