Olof Winnerstrand
Encyclopedia
Carl Olof Magnus Winnerstrand (26 August 1875 – 16 July 1956) was a Swedish
actor.
, Winnerstrand was a son of the well-known Stockholm goldsmith and jeweller C.A. Winnerstrand, and started out in his father's footsteps, learning the trade. His parents opposed his acting dreams and, being loyal to a promise to his father, he took over the family business when his father died in 1899, and worked a couple of years as goldsmith. However, his longing for the stage increased and he was encouraged by great Swedish actor Emil Hillberg in pursuing in acting, after he had witnessed Winnerstrand's striking talent and by offering a place in his theatre company. Now, this time with the blessing of his mother, he sold the family company and joined Hillberg's theatre troupe.
Olof Winnerstrand made his professional debut in 1901 at Helsingborg City Theatre
and then toured with the Hillberg Company in 1901-02 and then with the famous Selander Company
1902-04, where he met his future wife and the love of his life, Miss Frida Kumlin
(the couple married in 1906 and for decades was one of Swedish theatre's most popular and beloved theatre couple, often performing opposite each other on stage as well). In 1906 he was contracted by the notorious theatre manager Albert Ranft
to play at Vasateatern
(Vasa Theatre), the theatre stage above all in Sweden with a tradition of playing farces and comedies. Here Winnerstrand rose to star fame in the late 1900s as a top comedy actor, for years performing leading parts in numerous farces and comedies popular of those days by Oscar Wilde
, George Bernard Shaw
, Georges Feydeau
and Georges Berr (in many of the original Swedish stagings of the plays); such as his Mr Ernest in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest
, Mr Valentine in Shaw's You Never Can Tell, in Franz Arnold's & Ernst Bach's The Spanish Fly (Die Spanische Fliege; Spanska flugan) and as Vicomte Goring in Wilde's An Ideal Husband
.
By 1919 Winnerstrand had made a name for himself as a comedy actor and was asked by the then manager of the national stage, Tor Hedberg, to come and perform at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
(Dramaten). Just seeking a change at the time, Winnerstrand came to remain at the national stage until his retirement in 1949; he performed in altogether 119 parts between 1919 and 1949, here also showing himself as a strong and versatile actor in drama plays and in character parts. He is considered as one of Sweden's very finest stage and film actors of the early 20th century.
Successful and critically acclaimed parts at Dramaten include his Bo Swedenhielm in Hjalmar Bergman
's Swedenhielms (1925), Argan in Molière
's The Imaginary Invalid (1927), Pisthetairos in The Birds
by Aristophanes
(1928), Sir Basil Winterton in Edward Childs Carpenter's The Bachelor Father (1930), Alfred Jingle in Dickens
' The Pickwick Club
(1931), Chlestakov in Nikolai Gogol
's The Inspector General (1932), the King of Babylon in Marc Connelly
's The Green Pastures (1932), Måns Sommar in Strindberg
's Mäster Olof (1933), Fabrikör Åvik in Birger Sjöberg
s Kvartetten som sprängdes (The Quartet That Broke Up) (1935), Nat Miller in Eugene O'Neill
's Ah, Wilderness!
(1935–36), Richard Greatham in Noël Coward
's Hay Fever
(1937), Frank Haines in Dodie Smith
's Call It A Day (1937), Titus Jaywood in Mark Reed's Yes, My Darling Daughter (1938), Charles Randolph in Dodie Smith's Dear Octopus (1939), Don Pedro in Shakespeare
's Much Ado About Nothing
(1940), Fritz Kelemen in Rose Franken
's Claudia (1942), Lindgren in Karl Ragnar Gierow's Av hjärtans lust (1945), Hartman in Jean Anouilh
's The Wild Bird (1948) and Charley in Arthur Miller
's Death of a Salesman
(1949).
On film he later in life presented several strong supporting parts, for example in early Ingmar Bergman
films Torment 1944 (script by Bergman), Woman Without a Face
1947 (script by Bergman), Music in Darkness
1948 and A Lesson in Love
1955. He also appeared in strong parts in film director Hasse Ekman
's Kungliga patrasket 1945 and Medan porten var stängd 1946, and in several film comedies opposite Sickan Carlsson
(between 1945–55), directed by Schamyl Bauman
.
He was married to actress Frida Winnerstrand, née Kumlin, 1906–43 (her death).
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....
actor.
Biography
Born in a bourgeois home in StockholmStockholm
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...
, Winnerstrand was a son of the well-known Stockholm goldsmith and jeweller C.A. Winnerstrand, and started out in his father's footsteps, learning the trade. His parents opposed his acting dreams and, being loyal to a promise to his father, he took over the family business when his father died in 1899, and worked a couple of years as goldsmith. However, his longing for the stage increased and he was encouraged by great Swedish actor Emil Hillberg in pursuing in acting, after he had witnessed Winnerstrand's striking talent and by offering a place in his theatre company. Now, this time with the blessing of his mother, he sold the family company and joined Hillberg's theatre troupe.
Olof Winnerstrand made his professional debut in 1901 at Helsingborg City Theatre
Helsingborg City Theatre
Helsingborg City Theatre is the city theatre of Helsingborg in south of Sweden. It's one of the most well-known city theatres in Sweden....
and then toured with the Hillberg Company in 1901-02 and then with the famous Selander Company
Selander Company
The Selander Company was a famous and renowned theatre company in Sweden from 1889-1928 run by the head-strong theatre couple Hjalmar and Concordia Selander....
1902-04, where he met his future wife and the love of his life, Miss Frida Kumlin
Frida Winnerstrand
Karolina Alfrida Winnerstrand, née Kumlin, January 23, 1881 – December 1, 1943 was a Swedish actress.-Biography:Born in Lövsta, Järfälla, Stockholm, Frida Winnerstrand made her debut 1896 in the Anna Lundbergs Theatre Company and later studied acting at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting...
(the couple married in 1906 and for decades was one of Swedish theatre's most popular and beloved theatre couple, often performing opposite each other on stage as well). In 1906 he was contracted by the notorious theatre manager Albert Ranft
Albert Ranft
Albert Adam Ranft was a Swedish theatre director and actor. Ranft debuted in the theatre company of Magda von Dolcke in 1876. He started his own travelling company in 1884 and was employed at Stora Teatern in Gothenburg from 1886...
to play at Vasateatern
Vasateatern
Vasateatern or "Vasan" is a private theatre in Stockholm, Sweden. It is located at Vasagatan 19-21 in central Stockholm....
(Vasa Theatre), the theatre stage above all in Sweden with a tradition of playing farces and comedies. Here Winnerstrand rose to star fame in the late 1900s as a top comedy actor, for years performing leading parts in numerous farces and comedies popular of those days by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
and Georges Berr (in many of the original Swedish stagings of the plays); such as his Mr Ernest in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, Mr Valentine in Shaw's You Never Can Tell, in Franz Arnold's & Ernst Bach's The Spanish Fly (Die Spanische Fliege; Spanska flugan) and as Vicomte Goring in Wilde's An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour...
.
By 1919 Winnerstrand had made a name for himself as a comedy actor and was asked by the then manager of the national stage, Tor Hedberg, to come and perform at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
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....
(Dramaten). Just seeking a change at the time, Winnerstrand came to remain at the national stage until his retirement in 1949; he performed in altogether 119 parts between 1919 and 1949, here also showing himself as a strong and versatile actor in drama plays and in character parts. He is considered as one of Sweden's very finest stage and film actors of the early 20th century.
Successful and critically acclaimed parts at Dramaten include his Bo Swedenhielm in Hjalmar Bergman
Hjalmar Bergman
Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus Bergman was a Swedish writer and playwright.The son of a banker in Örebro, Bergman briefly studied philosophy at Uppsala University but soon broke off his studies and took up the life of a free writer. He married Stina Lindberg, the daughter of actor and stage producer...
's Swedenhielms (1925), Argan in Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's The Imaginary Invalid (1927), Pisthetairos in The Birds
The Birds (play)
The Birds is a comedy by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed in 414 BCE at the City Dionysia where it won second prize. It has been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the gaiety of its songs...
by Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
(1928), Sir Basil Winterton in Edward Childs Carpenter's The Bachelor Father (1930), Alfred Jingle in Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' The Pickwick Club
The Pickwick Papers
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...
(1931), Chlestakov in Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's The Inspector General (1932), the King of Babylon in Marc Connelly
Marc Connelly
Marcus Cook Connelly was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.-Biography:...
's The Green Pastures (1932), Måns Sommar in Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
's Mäster Olof (1933), Fabrikör Åvik in Birger Sjöberg
Birger Sjöberg
Birger Sjöberg was a modern Swedish poet and songwriter.Originally a journalist, Sjöberg wrote songs in his spare time. His first collection Frida's Book was extremely popular...
s Kvartetten som sprängdes (The Quartet That Broke Up) (1935), Nat Miller in Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 2 October 1933.-Plot summary:...
(1935–36), Richard Greatham in Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Hay Fever
Hay Fever
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
(1937), Frank Haines in Dodie Smith
Dodie Smith
Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was an English novelist and playwright. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking....
's Call It A Day (1937), Titus Jaywood in Mark Reed's Yes, My Darling Daughter (1938), Charles Randolph in Dodie Smith's Dear Octopus (1939), Don Pedro in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
(1940), Fritz Kelemen in Rose Franken
Rose Franken
Rose Dorothy Lewin Franken , author and playwright, was born on December 28, 1895, in Gainesville, Texas, the youngest child of Michael and Hannah Lewin. In 1914 she married Sigmund W.A. Franken, an oral surgeon who died in 1932. They had three children. In 1937 she married writer William Brown...
's Claudia (1942), Lindgren in Karl Ragnar Gierow's Av hjärtans lust (1945), Hartman in Jean Anouilh
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
's The Wild Bird (1948) and Charley in Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
(1949).
On film he later in life presented several strong supporting parts, for example in early 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...
films Torment 1944 (script by Bergman), Woman Without a Face
Woman Without a Face
Woman Without a Face is a 1947 Swedish drama film directed by Gustaf Molander and written by Ingmar Bergman.-Cast:* Alf Kjellin - Martin Grandé* Anita Björk - Frida Grandé* Gunn Wållgren - Rut Köhler* Stig Olin - Ragnar Ekberg...
1947 (script by Bergman), Music in Darkness
Music in Darkness
Music in Darkness is a 1948 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman.-Synopsis:The screenplay was written by Bergman and Dagmar Edqvist....
1948 and A Lesson in Love
A Lesson in Love
A Lesson in Love is a 1954 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman.The film is a comedy by Ingmar Bergman and one of his early films. It deals with the marriage of David and his wife Marianne.The filmscore is by Dag Wirén.-Cast:...
1955. He also appeared in strong parts in film director Hasse Ekman
Hasse Ekman
Hasse Ekman was a Swedish director, actor, writer and producer for film, stage and television.Hasse Ekman is probably Sweden's most successful and critically acclaimed film director pre Ingmar Bergman and post Sjöström and Stiller, with his peak in mid-1940s to the year 1950...
's Kungliga patrasket 1945 and Medan porten var stängd 1946, and in several film comedies opposite Sickan Carlsson
Sickan Carlsson
Sickan Anna-Greta Carlsson was a Swedish film actress and singer.-Biography:From the 1930s–1950s, Carlsson was Sweden's most popular film actress and its highest paid, topping the salary of even the most popular male performer...
(between 1945–55), directed by Schamyl Bauman
Schamyl Bauman
Magnus Schamyl Bauman was a Swedish film director .Born in Vimmerby, Småland. First studied law and modern languages at Uppsala University. In 1917 he began to work with translating text lines for international silent films , which he did successful throughout the 1920s...
.
He was married to actress Frida Winnerstrand, née Kumlin, 1906–43 (her death).
Selected filmography
- Dans på rosor (19551955 in filmThe year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
) - A Lesson in LoveA Lesson in LoveA Lesson in Love is a 1954 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman.The film is a comedy by Ingmar Bergman and one of his early films. It deals with the marriage of David and his wife Marianne.The filmscore is by Dag Wirén.-Cast:...
(19541954 in filmThe year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
) - Klasskamrater (19521952 in filmThe year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
) - Skolka skolan (Playing Truant) (19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
) - Music in DarknessMusic in DarknessMusic in Darkness is a 1948 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman.-Synopsis:The screenplay was written by Bergman and Dagmar Edqvist....
(19481948 in filmThe year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
) - Medan porten var stängd (While The Door Was Locked) (19461946 in filmThe year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
) - Det glada kalaset (19461946 in filmThe year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
) - Kungliga patrasket (The Royal Rabble) (19451945 in filmThe year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
) - Torment (19441944 in filmThe year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....
) - Familjen Björck (The Bjorck Family) (19401940 in filmThe year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
) - Blixt och dunder (Summer Lightning) (19381938 in filmThe year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
) - Familjens hemlighet (19361936 in filmThe year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
)
Stage work
External links
- Olof Winnerstrand at Svenskfilmdatabas.se (Swedish Film Database)
- Olof Winnerstrand at Find-A-Grave.com