German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 614/4. Photo: Union. Asta Nielsen and Karl Meinhardt in Rausch/Intoxication (Ernst Lubitsch, 1919).

Danish silent film actress Asta Nielsen (1881-1972), was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international film stars. Of her 74 films between 1910 and 1932, seventy were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta. Noted for her large dark eyes, mask-like face and boyish figure, Nielsen most often portrayed strong-willed passionate women trapped by tragic consequences.

For more postcards, a bio and clips check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Tags:   Asta Nielsen Asta Nielsen Danish Silent Film Actress Karl Meinhardt Carl Meinhardt Karl Carl Meinhardt Actor Acteur Schauspieler German Darsteller European Film Star Cine Kino Cinema Picture Screen Movie Movies Sepia Vintage Postcard Postkarte Carte Postale Cartolina Tarjet Postal Postkaart Briefkarte Briefkaart Ansichtskarte Ansichtkaart Allure Glamour Diva Denmark 1920s Star Rausch 1919 Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch Union Strindberg August Strindberg

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Vintage Swedish postcard. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, No. 453. Photo by Hofatelier Jaeger, 1915. Tora Teje and Gösta Ekman in the stage play Lycko-Pers Resa by August Strindberg, performed in 1915.

Gösta Ekman (1890–1938) was the first real star of the Swedish theater. His boyish good looks attracted both sexes, helping to create a massive cult following, and elevating him to the status of a living legend. Combined with a beautiful voice, and a powerful stage and screen presence, Ekman was able to captivate his audiences.

Tora Teje (1893-1970) was a Swedish actress who starred in Swedish silent cinema, in films such as Erotikon, Karin Ingmarsdotter, Klostret i Sendomir (all from 1920), and Damen med kameliorna (1925).

Tags:   Axel Eliassons Konstförlag Swedish Sweden 1910s Theatre Theater Stage Teatro Tora Teje Vintage Vedette Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Picture Cinema Carte Cartolina cARD Carte Postale Celebrity Costume Film Film Star Movies Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent Schauspielerin Stummfilm Darstellerin Ansichtskarte ACtress Actrice Attrice SChauspieler Darsteller Actor Acteur Attore Gösta Ekman August Strindberg Strindberg

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Vintage Swedish postcard. Paul Heckscher 1751, 1903. Photo Herm. Hamnqvist. In 1899 De Wahl played the lead in Erik XIV by August Strindberg at the Svenskateatern, a role which repeated in 1903 at the National Theatret.

Anders de Wahl (1869-1956) was a very popular and prolific Swedish stage actor, who also had small but significant film career.

Anders de Wahl, whose name in the population register was always written as Andreas, was born 9 February 1869 in Stockholm. He was the son of music director Oscar de Wahl and actress and operetta singer Anna de Wahl, born Lundström. After employment at Wicanders cork factory offices, De Wahl was in 1889-91 student at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. In 1891-92 he was employed at August Lindberg’s theatre company, from 1892 to 1907 at Albert Ranft's theater company, and in 1907-19 at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. His repertory may have started with farces such as Charley’s Aunt (Djurgardsteatern, 1894), he soon became a major performer in August Strindberg’s plays, such as Mäster Olof (Vasateatern, 1897), Erik XIV (Svenskateatern, 1899), and Folkungasagan (Svenskateatern, 1900). From 1907 he was a regular actor at the Dramaten and this for many years, until 1951. At Dramaten he acted often with directors August Lindberg, Karl Hedberg, Tor Hedberg and Gustav Linden, and from the mid-1920s and well into the 1930s also with Olof Molander and, better known as film director, Alf Sjöberg. De Wahl also played as guest in Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki, and carried out tours on the Swedish provinces. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre mentions De Wahl was popular until the late 1920s, when the more natural style of Lars Hanson replaced his romantic, exuberant style. De Wahl excelled as personality actor, often performing troubled souls as Strindberg’s Erik XIV and his King Magnus. Though he opposed modernism in theatre, he did perform in plays by Pirandello such as Six Characters in in Search of an Author.

Anders de Wahl’s debut in film was in the Mauritz Stiller subversive tragicomedy Erotikon (1920) in which professor Leo Charpentier (De Wahl) and his wife Irene (Tora Teje) experiment with extramarital affairs. The film was based on a play by Hungarian writer Ferenc Herczeg and scripted by future film director Gustav Molander, Stiller and Arthur Nordén. Supporting actors were Karin Molander and Lars Hanson. In his second film Kvarnen (The Windmill, John W. Brunius 1921) De Wahl played a very different character as a miller who is lured and blinded by a seductive ‘tattare’ woman working at his farm. In 1925 De Wahl played in two more silent films, in Karin Swanström’s Flygande holländaren (The Flying Dutchman), scripted by Hjalmar Bergman and with German actor Werner Fuetterer co-acting, and the title role in Kalle Utter, again directed by Swanström and scripted by Bergman, and based on a novella by Swedish author August Blanche. His last film part was the lead in Edvin Adolphson’s drama Vad veta väl männen? (What Do Men Know Well?, 1933), the Swedish version of the German film Was wissen den Männer? (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1933).

For posterity, Anders de Wahl is inextricably linked with the title role in Hjalmar Bergman's comedy Markurells from Wadköbing (1930). Also for a long time Anders de Wahl read Alfred Tennyson’s poem Ring Out, Wild Bells on the radio at midnight on New Years Eve. Anders de Wahl died March 9, 1956 in Stockholm. He was unmarried and is buried in the Adolf Fredrik cemetery in Stockholm.

Sources: Swedish, Danish, German and English Wikipedia, IMDB, and Cambridge Guide to Theatre.

Tags:   Vintage Swedish Theatre Theater Teatro Stage Sweden 1900s 1910s Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Postal Cinema Carte Cartolina Cine cARD Carte Postale Celebrity Costume Film Film Star Movies Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent SChauspieler Stummfilm Darsteller Ansichtkaart Ansichtskarte Actor Acteur Attore male Anders de Wahl Paul Heckscher Hamnqvist

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Swedish postcard. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, No. 25. Photo by Hofatelier Jaeger, 1916. Anders de Wahl and Astrid Torsell in the play Kamraterna/ Comrades (1886/7) by August Strindberg.

Anders de Wahl (1869-1956) was a very popular and prolific Swedish stage actor, who also had small but significant film career, acting e.g. in Mauritz Stiller's Erotikon (1920).

Astri (Astrid) Torsell, born on 24 December 1879 in Stockholm, died on 9 July 1951 in Oslo, was a Swedish actress, active at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. She was the daughter of Olefine Moe and Oscar Torsell. In 1921-22 she acted in four Swedish silent films: Elisabet (1921), Fru Mariannes friare (1921), Ödets redskap (1922), and Lord Saviles brott (1922).

Tags:   Darstellerin ACtress Actrice Attrice Schauspielerin Darsteller Actor Acteur Attore Vintage Vedette Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Picture Postal Cinema Carte Cartolina Cine cARD Carte Postale Celebrity Costume Film Film Star Movies Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent Stummfilm Ansichtkaart Ansichtskarte Swedish Theatre Theater Teatro Stage Hofatelier Jaeger Jaeger Axel Eliasson Axel Eliassons Konstforlag Anders de Wahl Astrid Torsell 1916

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Vintage German postcard. Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, No. 2386. Photo by Käthe Hirschfeld. Theodor Loos in Nach Damaskus, the German version of August Strindberg's three-part play Till Damaskus.

Theodor Loos (1883-1954) was a German stage and screen actor between the 1910s and the 1950s. He became famous for his parts in Fritz Lang’s German films.

Tags:   Hermann Leiser Leiser Darsteller DEutsch Deutschland German Germany 1910s Vintage Vedette Postcard Postkarte POstale Postkaart Postal Picture Cinema Carte Cartolina Cine Card Carte Postale Celebrity Costume Film Film Star Movies Movie Star Muet Muto Screen Star Silent SChauspieler Stummfilm Ansichtkaart Ansichtskarte Actor Acteur Attore Theodor Loos Nach Damaskus Käthe Hirschfeld theater theatre

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