Danish postcard by Alex Vincents Kunstförlag, Eneret, no. 559. Betty Nansen in the Henrik Ibsen play 'Rosmersholm' (1906).
Betty Nansen (1873-1943) was a Danish stage and film actress and theatre director of the theatre that carries her name, the Betty Nansen Theatre.
Betty Anna Marie Nansen née Betty Anna Maria Müller on 19 March 1873 – was the daughter of actor, theatre manager and stage director at the Dagmarteatret Frederik Carl Christian Oscar Müller (1845-1895) ans his acting wife Maria Petrine Petersen (1855-1929). In 1892 Nansen entered the theatre school of Det kongelige Teater (Royal Danish Theatre). In 1893 she debuted in Victorien Sardou’s Dora at Copenhagen’s Casino Theater, after which she played Magda in the German play Hjemmet (Homeland) by Hermann Sudermann. She soon become the primadonna of the Copenhagen theatre. Between 1896 and 1899 she was employed at The Royal Theatre, debuting as Martha Bernick in Henrik Ibsens’s Samfundets støtter/ Pillars of Society and playing also Bødvild in Vølund Smed/ Wayland the Smith. She then moved to the Dagmarteatret, where she had her real breakthrough and remained between 1899 and 1903, acting in all kinds of plays such as the Norwegian play Paul Lange og Tora Parsberg. She had individual guest performances at the Nationaltheatret i (National Theatre) in Norway in June 1902, October 1903 and May 1910. Furthermore she visited her Nationaltheatret in Spring 1903 as the head of a Danish tour, and again in August - September 1926 she visited Den Nationale Scene in Norway, this time with her second husband Henrik Bentzon. Nansen left the Dagmar Theatre in 1903 when she couldn’t stand Martinius Nielsen's despotic leadership anymore, and went to the People's Theatre, where she became the first female Copenhagen theatre manager, and joined this as co-director as well until 1905. Here she played the title role in Agnes, which was one of her greatest successes in her early career. In the years 1907-1910, she was again actress at the Royal Theatre. She visited the then Norwegian and Swedish scenes and returned to the Dagmarteatret until 1911.
In 1913 Betty Nansen debuted in film in the Nordisk movie Bristet lykke (A Paradise Lost) by August Blom, with Olaf Fönss and Poul Reumert co-acting. Nansen plays the wife of a rich attorney (Fönss), who is deluded her husband doesn’t care about her anymore, only about his work. She starts an affair with a baron, who proves to be a dangerous robber. More films at Nordisk followed, mostly directed by the prolific Blom, some by Holger-Madsen or Robert Dinesen: Prinsesse Elena (Princess Helena, Holger-Madsen 1913) with Sven Aggerholm, Af elskovs nåde (Acquitted, Blom 1913) with Adam Poulsen, Moderen (The Mother, Robert Dinesen 1913) with Nicolai Johannsen, Hammerslaget (Dinesen 1913) with Johannsen and Aggerholm, Sønnen (Her Son, Blom 1914) with Carl Lauritzen and Arne Weel, Revolutionsbryllup (A Revolution Marriage, Blom 1914) with Waldemar Psilander and Johannsen, Eventyrersken (Exiled, Blom 1914) with Aage Hertel, Under skæbnens hjul (Holger-Madsen 1914) with Lauritzen and Reumert, and finally En ensom kvinde (The Doctor’s Legacy, Blom 1914) with Frederik Jacobsen, which was only released in 1917. In 1914 Nansen went to the United States where she tried to forge a career and acted in few films for Fox, including starring roles in The Celebrated Scandal (released 1915), Anna Karenina (1915), A Woman's Resurrection (1915), and The Song of Hate (1915). While Should a Mother Tell, based on a story and script by Rex Ingram, dealt with a mother who must choose between the happiness of her 16-year old daughter and innocent man, The Song of Hate was simply an adaptation by Ingram of Sardou’s play Tosca (made even more famous by Puccini’s opera), with Nansen as Floria Tosca and Arthur Hoops as Scarpia. All these films were directed by J. Gordon Edwards. The films were, however, no success.
During these years Nansen did guest performances in both the Scandinavian capitals, but also in Russia, America and France. In Paris, she played with Henrik Bentzon in "Ghosts". In 1917 she bought the Alexandra Theatre at the Frederiksberg Allee and renamed it the Betty Nansen Theatre, creating one of the most literary theatres in the country. She sat at the helm and went as talented stage director and administrator in the process of realizing her dream of a new artistic scene in Frederiksberg. The audience got the return of the prima donna already in the opening performance, a French comedy where Mrs Director Nansen appeared as an exuberant young widow in a silver dress. Nansen remained head of the theatre until her death in 1943. In 1936 something non-traditional happened when Stig Lommer had her perform in a show to the tune of Alexander's Ragtime Band. Betty Nansen surprised also with plans to expand the theatre, which henceforth would operate with a film company. In her final years Betty Nansen had plans for a film project, which she called the "Eternity film" - a modern film about the life of Jesus, where Henrik Bentzon was to play Christ and Nansen herself the Virgin Mary. Betty Nansen was married on 14 March 1896 in Copenhagen with author and Gyldendal director Peter Nansen (1861-1918). The marriage lasted until 1912. On 28 June 1927 at Taarbæk Church, she was married to the 22 years younger Norwegian actor Henrik Bentzon. The marriage was dissolved in 1933. Betty Nansen mingled often in the theatre politics debate. In the years 1935-1940 she was Chair of the Private Theaters Director Association. In 1907 Betty Nansen was awarded with the medal Ingenio et Arti and in 1938 with the Order of Merit in gold. Along with Henrik Bentzon she bought Kontumatshuset, the old Quarantine Station in Skagen, which they called "Strandgården". Betty Nansen died 15 March 1943 and was buried in the dunes at Kontumatshuset.
Sources: IMDB, English and Danish Wikipedia, www.danskefilm.dk/index2.html
Tags: Danish Denmark Betty Nansen Vintage Vedette Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Postal Picture Cinema Cartolina Carte Cine Card Carte Postale Celebrity Costume Film Film Star Movies Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent Schauspielerin Stummfilm Ansichtkaart Ansichtskarte ACtress Actrice Attrice 1910s 1900s Theatre Theater stage teatro Rosmersholm play Alex Vincents Eneret Henrik Ibsen
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German postcard. Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, No. 1711. Photo Zander & Labisch. Albert Bassermann in the Henrik Ibsen play Baumeister Solness.
Albert Bassermann (1867–1952) was one of the first great German stage actors who worked for the cinema. In 1933 he fled the Nazi regime and became an Oscar nominated stage and film actor in the US.
Tags: Albert Bassermann Stage Theatre Theater teatro Vintage Vedette Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Postal Picture Cinema Carte Cartolina Cine Carte Postale Card Celebrity Costume Film Film Star Movies Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent SChauspieler Stummfilm Darsteller DEutsch Deutschland German Germany Ansichtkaart Ansichtskarte Actor Acteur Attore 1910s Baumeister Solness Zander & Labisch Hermann Leiser
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Italian postcard. IPA CT, 5325. Milano Film, Censura Terni 25-8-[19]17. Caption: ...the sun!...the sun!... Ermete Zacconi and Ines Cristina-Zacconi in the Italian silent film Spettri/Gli spettri (A.G. Caldiera, Milano Film 1918), adapted from Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts (Gengangere, 1881).
Ermete Zacconi (1857-1948) was a monstre sacré of the Italian theater. He also acted in various Italian silent and sound films.
Tags: Ermete Zacconi Spettri Italian Italy Italia Italiano Italiana 1910s Vintage Vedette Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Postal Picture Cinema Carte Cartolina Cine Carte Postale Card Celebrity Costume Cinema Italiano Film Film Star Movies Movie Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent Sepia Schauspielerin Stummfilm SChauspieler Darstellerin Darsteller Drama Adaptation Play Henrik Ibsen Ghosts Ansichtkaart Ansichtskarte ACtress Actor Actrice Acteur Attrice Attore Ines Cristina-Zacconi Ines Cristina-Zacconi
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Italian postcard. Ermete Zacconi in the Italian silent film Spettri/Gli spettri (A.G. Caldiera, Milano Film 1918), adapted from Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts (Gengangere, 1881). Caption: ...Osvaldo Halving is celebrated by his friends, the painters.
Ermete Zacconi (1857-1948) was a monstre sacré of the Italian theater. He also acted in various Italian silent and sound films.
Tags: Spettri Ermete Zacconi Ermete Zacconi Ibsen Adaptation Vintage Postcard Postkarte POstale Postal Postkaart Picture Theatre Theater Stage Teatro Star Screen Silent Schauspieler Stummfilm Darsteller Italian Italy Italia Italiano Italiana Actor Acteur Attore 1910s 1920s Muet Muto Movies Film Film Star Drama
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Italian postcard. Photo: Milano Film. Ines Cristina-Zacconi as Helene and Ermete Zacconi's son Peppino as Helen's son Osvaldo in the Italian silent film Spettri/Gli spettri (A.G. Caldiera, 1918), adapted from Henrik Ibsen's 'Ghosts' (Gengangere, 1881). Caption: Osvaldo, Osvaldo, what is the matter with you?
Ermete Zacconi (1857-1948) was a monstre sacré of the Italian theater. He also acted in various Italian silent and sound films.
Tags: Spettri Ermete Zacconi Ermete Zacconi Ibsen Adaptation Vintage Postcard Postkarte POstale Postal Postkaart Picture Theatre Theater Stage Teatro Star Screen Silent Schauspieler Stummfilm Darsteller Italian Italy Italia Italiano Italiana Actor Acteur Attore 1910s 1920s Muet Muto Movies Film Film Star Drama mother son Ines Cristina-Zacconi Peppino Zacconi Henrik Ibsen
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