Gertrud Fridh
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actress.
Born in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Fridh later studied acting at Gothenburg City Theatre
Gothenburg City Theatre
Gothenburg City Theatre opened in 1934 at Götaplatsen square in Gothenburg, Sweden. The theatre was drawn by Carl Bergsten who gave the exterior a Neo-Classical look with a touch of Streamline Moderne. The critics thought it to be a too old-fashioned building – the International Style had had a big...
's acting school from 1941 to 1944. She worked in the 1940s and 50s at the city theatres in Gothenburg and Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
. At the latter she came in contact with director Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
who directed her on stage and later would cast her in strong parts in some of his most memorable films, including Wild Strawberries
Wild Strawberries (film)
Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, about an old man recalling his past. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means "the wild strawberry patch", but idiomatically means an underrated gem of a place...
(1957), The Magician
The Magician (1958 film)
The Magician is a 1958 film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Its original Swedish title is Ansiktet, which means "the face", and it was released theatrically as The Face in the United Kingdom, although video releases have used the U.S. title.The film stars Max von Sydow as a traveling...
/ The Face (1958), The Devil's Eye
The Devil's Eye
The Devil's Eye is a 1960 Swedish fantasy-comedy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman.- Plot :The devil has a stye in his eye, caused by the purity of a vicar's daughter. To get rid of it, he sends Don Juan up from hell to seduce the 20-year-old Britt-Marie and to rob her of her virginity...
(1960), All These Women
All These Women
All These Women is a 1964 Swedish comedy film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Along with Smiles of a Summer Night, the film is one of the few comedy films ever made by Bergman...
(1964) and Hour of the Wolf
Hour of the Wolf
Hour of the Wolf is a 1968 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. It combines elements of the film drama, surrealist film and horror film.-Plot:...
(1967).
From 1956 to 1978, Gertrud Fridh was part of the ensemble at Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre (aka Dramaten)
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. There she performed a number of celebrated parts, from Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
(1956) to Phaedra in Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Hippolytus
Hippolytus (play)
Hippolytus is an Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. The play was first produced for the City Dionysia of Athens in 428 BC and won first prize as part of a trilogy....
(1965) and The Mummy in Strindberg
Strindberg
Strindberg may refer to:People* August Strindberg , Swedish dramatist and painter* Nils Strindberg , Swedish photographer* Anita Strindberg , Swedish actor* Henrik Strindberg , Swedish composerOther...
's The Ghost Sonata
The Ghost Sonata
The Ghost Sonata is a play in three acts by Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in 1907, it was first produced at Strindberg's Intimate Theatre in Stockholm on January 21, 1908. Since then, it has been staged by such notable directors as Max Reinhardt, Olof Molander, Roger Blin, and...
(1973). One of her most praised parts was her Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
, in the legendary 1964 Dramaten production of the Ibsen play, directed by Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
. The successful production gave 89 performances, and she later guest performed in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Despite the fact that many Swedish actresses have taken on the role of Hedda Gabler over the years, in Sweden, Gertrud Fridh is still regarded as the definitive Hedda of all time.
