She is mentioned by Ty Webb, Chevy Chases character in Caddyshack, as a possible but unavailable substitute for Rodney Dangerfields character (Al Czervik) in the final golf wager round before Michael OKeefes Danny Noonan is chosen. Her husband, Neils Onstad, a Norwegian shipowner, said she "just slept away" halfway through the two-hour flight. Olympics and came in eighth place. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Sandvika, Brum kommune, Akershus fylke, Norway Show Map. Mitt livs eventyr, Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1938. Hans was himself very athletic; among his diverse pursuits, he was a former world champion in bicycling. -- Sonja Henie OSLO, Norway -- She was the first to spin, the first to jump, the first to be crowned a figure skating ice queen. She had already delighted in dancing, and--with her brother Leif giving her her first lessons--enjoyed Within a year of turning pro, Henie had earned in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. Her father, Hans Wilhelm Henie, was a successful fur trader and amateur athlete, and her mother, Selma Lochman Nielsen, inherited her family's wealth. Henie died in her sleep on an ambulance plane that was taking her from Paris to Oslo to see a specialist. At the age of eighty-two, Hulten still had plenty of venom for Henie. At the height of the Great Depression she had become an international star with enough clout that she could announce that she planned to be in motion pictures. Where did sonja henie live in the us? - Answers Sonja Henie - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family | Sticky Facts The next year, she began training for the national championship of Norway. "Even on the podium after the Olympics, there were no kisses, no handshakes, not even a word." Henie went on to win a total of three Olympic figure skating championships: she also won gold medals at Lake Placid, New York in 1932 and at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria in 1936. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sonja-Henie, Sonja Henie - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Her first film, One In A Million with Adolphe Menjou, was a huge Henie was the greatest of all women figure skaters from the 1920s to the 1940s, and perhaps of the entire twentieth century. Skater Sonja Henie 'Put A Dollar Sign' Behind The Gold The film soon grossed $2 million and made Henie a household name. "Gee-Whizzer." She was 55, her. [citation needed]. ." Henie also had great spinning ability. [citation needed] The Royal Family were very mindful of whom they supported after the war[11] and Norwegians looked to them as role models in that respect. 2023 . She studied in Oslo together with Martin Stixrud and Erna Andersen who was her competitor and skate club member.[17]. The couple moved In 1941 Henie, who was twice married to U.S. citizens, herself became a citizen of the United States. During her competitive career, Henie traveled widely and worked with a variety of foreign coaches. . (Read Scott Hamiltons Britannica essay on "Training for Olympic Gold."). The hallmarks of Henie's future successes were in place. In 1921, at Oslo's Frogner Stadium, Henie competed in and won Norway's highest junior level of competition. Sonja Henie would have been 57 years old at the time of death or 103 years old today. Second Fiddle displays Sonja [Henie] as Trudi Hovland, a schoolmarm of Bergen, Minn. who is called to Hollywood because her local swain has sent her photograph to Consolidated Pictures Corp., which has been looking high & low for just such a heroine. [14] Figure skating writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum credits Henie with transforming figure skating into what she calls "a spectacle of the skater's body" and for "shifting [the sport's] meanings firmly in the direction of femininity". Sonja Henie's Night, an exhibition that played before and during the intermission of ice hockey games at Madison Square Garden during March 1936, was a success. In 1936, Miss Henie decided to turn professional, stating simply, I want to go into pictures, and I want to skate in them. Sonja Henie, Michael Kirby - Die Fledermaus! - YouTube Adolf Hitler greeting Sonja Henie at a rink in Munich six weeks after the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she won a third straight women's singles title. When their daughter showed a special passion for skating at about age six, which she began under the instruction of her brother Leif, they provided her with whatever training she required. She was a three-time Olympic champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (19271936) and a six-time European champion (19311936). "Tonya-no! Selma had designed her daughter's above-the-knee skirt with heavy fur trim to give it fullness. It featured spectacular costumes and included waltz and hula dances. Born on April 8, 1912 in Oslo, Norway, her father, Hans Wilhelm Henie, was a successful fur trader and her mother, Selma Lochman Nielsen, had a fortune of her own. . Born April 8, 1912, in Oslo, Norway, Henie was blessed from the beginning with every attribute a skater might need. He named Henie as the instigator. Not long after the center's lavish opening celebration, Henie was diagnosed with leukemia. The highly-publicized shows were well attended by film stars and filmmakers, including Darryl F. Zanuck of Twentieth Century-Fox. Her new goal was the 1927 world figure skating championship. Henie was portrayed in the 2018 Anne Sewitsky film Sonja The White Swan, shown at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.[26][27][28]. Colledge, Cecilia. As a result, none of Henie's properties in Norway were confiscated or damaged by the Germans. After she complained to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, the guard was summoned to apologize for the incident. To allow for a rigorous training schedule, Henie's parents took her out of school, hired a private tutor, and gave her ballet lessons in London during the summer. Said to have had a keen business sense, she early acquired the nickname Little Miss Moneybags for her habit of prudent investments. Now I arrive at the Garden at 6:45 and I never stop until 11:10. OSLO, Oct. 12 (AP)--Sonja Henie, ice-skating queen and film star, died tonight on an ambulance plane flying from Paris to Oslo. 27 Apr. Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. Became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1941. Gradually her appearances dwindled, and in 1956 she retired. Her name and appearance was shown in episode 285 of MASH 4077. Her father was a wealthy fur salesman and a former amateur cycling champion who encouraged his children to compete. She became a United States citizen in 1941. . 2023 . The skater turned professional later that same year, after having won her tenth world championship. We had been flying for only an hour and she just slipped away.. Troubles in Henie's film career were not mirrored in her popularity as a live performer. On a hilltop overlooking the Henie-Onstad Museum. Jimmy believes that, as the new star, she can be used to bolster the publicity value of Roger Maxwell (Rudy Vallee), a crooner on the studio pay roll whose self-esteem is more impressive than his newsworthiness. She made seventeen performances in nine cities and earned phenomenal box office returns. 8 April 1912 in Oslo, Norway; d. 12 October 1969 on a Paris-to-Oslo plane flight), champion figure skater who won three consecutive Olympic gold medals and most Norwegian, European, and world figure skating championships. As the first and only ice-skating film star, Henie is a show business phenomenon comparable only to the swimmer Esther Williams , who appeared in romantic comedies in the late 1940s. A little "meowing" before Ms. Henie takes the ice. Weatherly did not disclose his brother's cause of death as he paid emotional tribute alongside a throwback photo of himself and Will playing on the beach as children. Death. Encyclopedia of World Biography. [15], Also according to Kestnbaum, "Henie's largest contribution to public images of skating"[15] was in her professional ice shows and in her Hollywood films, which were often the first time audiences were exposed to figure skating through the mass media. Hans Henie died that year, at a time when his daughter's career had reached amazing heights. She was strongly denounced in the Norwegian press for this. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Nora and her uncle get railroaded into spending the night at a broken-down hotel in Canada. In recognition of her skating and other athletic accomplishments, she became the first woman to receive a medal from the Norwegian government for versatility and achievement in sports. Sonja Henie was born on April 8, 1912 and died on October 12, 1969. . Among her many victories as a competitive skater, she also won ten consecutive world championships. However, she held off these competitors and went on to win her third Olympic title at the 1936 Winter Olympics, albeit in very controversial circumstances with Cecilia Colledge finishing a very close second. The collapse of a section of bleachers during a show in Baltimore, Maryland in 1952 compounded the tour's legal and financial woes. The idea of an ice skating movie might seem quaint today, but Henie starred in a number of them, most notably One in a Million, the story of a skater's rise to Olympic glory, and Thin Ice. Sporting News (February 14, 1994): S21. But Henie did not stop there. [2], Kestnbaum argues that although Henie's skating was "athletic and powerful for her day",[2] she purposively added elements,such as using the toepicks of her skates to run or pose on the ice, in movements similar to the use of pointe technique in ballet, that undercut her power and athleticism. Henie, Sonja (1912-1969) Norwegian figure skater who won three consecutive gold medals and became a movie box-office attraction surpassed in her day only by Shirley Temple and Clark Gable. Jimmy Sutton (Tyrone Power), the press agent sent to Bergen to fetch her, at first treats her merely as Entry No. For this, she was condemned by many Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans. "I want to do with skates (in the movies) what Fred Astaire is doing with dancing," she said. Sonja loved Her wide, dimpled smile, pixie eyes and blonde Nordic good looks made her a great favorite of audiences during the years of World War II. When live television began to cut into the film industry, Henie stopped making movies and returned to traveling ice shows. Her program also included double axels, spins, twirls, and jumps. The international star had managed to keep her illness a secret and was seen with her husband at an Oslo theater less than two weeks before her death. In August 1931 her Chrysler roadster came in second in an amateur automobile race in Stockholm, and she became runner-up in the Norwegian national tennis tournament in 1932. Dressed in a white velvet, bell-skirted dress designed by her mother, Henie won over Austria's Herma Planck-Szabo. She signed with Darrly F. Zanuck and 20th Century-Fox, and her first skating film, "One in a Million," was released at the end of 1936. Sonja was 57 years old at the time of death. At the time, figure skating and ice shows were not yet an established form of entertainment in the United States. Vanilla Ice, the white boy who recorded the first rap single to hit Number One on Billboards Hot 100 pop chart, was controver, Sonnenberg, Susanna 1965- (Susanna Sophia Sonnenberg), Sonnenfeld, Joseph ayyim ben Abraham Solomon, https://www.encyclopedia.com/sports/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/henie-sonja, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/henie-sonja, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sonja-henie, Born April 8, outside of Oslo, Norway, to Hans Wilhelm Henie and Selma Lochman Nielsen, Wins Norway's junior-level national competition, Studies with private tutor to allow for longer practice sessions, Wins first of ten Women's World Figure Skating Championship titles, Awarded Olympic gold medal in figure skating at St. Moritz, Awarded Olympic gold medal in figure skating at Lake Placid, Awarded Olympic gold medal in figure skating at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Signs five-year contract with Twentieth-Century Fox, Rated third-most-popular film star in poll, Ends long relationship with promoter Arthur Wirtz and tours independently, Stops appearing in arena-style shows after bleacher accident injures 250 spectators, Donates modern art collection to Norway; builds Henie-Onstad Museum near Oslo, Norwegian junior-level national championship, Women's World Figure Skating Championship, Made Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olaf. How old was Sonja Henie when she died? - TimesMojo controversy. (Getty Images) I saw a tweet this week from Kiira Korpi, the Finnish figure skater who won medals three times at the European Championships . He died of Tularmia (Rabbit . During the years that Henie won her world championships, the five-member judging panel was dominated by three Norwegians. Henie was the world's first great figure skater. Best Answer. Wings On My Feet, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1940. Sun Valley Serenade - Wikipedia Her name and likeness were mentioned and portrayed by an ice skating Donald Duck in Walt Disney's 1939 The Hockey Champ. "Sonja Henie Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Sonja Henie Biography, Life, Interesting Facts - Famous Birthdays By Surely she exceeded nearly everyone's expectations when she was rated as the third most popular film star of 1938, surpassed by only Shirley Temple and Clark Gable. plummeted when a photo of her with Adolphe Hitler was published. Long, black skirts were the norm, being both modest and warm. In 1940, when the Nazis invaded Norway, she was out of the country. champion in 1927 and the following year she won an Olympic gold medal. Practicing as much as seven hours a day, she studied with teachers in Germany, England, Switzerland and Austria. With her third husband, the Norwegian shipowner Niels Onstad, she established (1968) the Henie Onstad Art Center, a museum of modern art in Hvikodden, near Oslo, Norway. Although Trudi does no skating in her screen test, she makes the grade. Sonja Henie - IMDb "Ice Wars: The Prequel." She is one of only two skaters to defend a ladies' singles Olympic title, the other being Katarina Witt, and her six European titles has only been matched by Witt. 1968 Sonja was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1940 she married millionaire-sportsman Dan Topping, from whom she was divorced in 1946. Her husband chartered a plane to convey her from Paris to Oslo to see her doctor, but she died onboard in her sleep. This adaptation formed the basis for Henie's free-skating program at the 1928 Olympics at St. Moritz, where the blonde-haired, five-foot, two-inch Henie, at 104 pounds, presented flawless figures and a free-skating program that included a combination of double "Axel Paulsens" (as the double axel was then called) and nineteen spins, twirls, and jumps. . Won 3 olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1936. How did Sonja Henie die? | Homework.Study.com Far from being discouraged, the youngster poured all her energies into skating. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. She competed in the 1924 Winter In 1968, the Onstads donated 250 of their paintings, plus $3.5 million for a fan-shaped stone-and-glass museum near Oslo. with her constantly, as she did throughout Miss Henie's career. His daughter began studying ballet at age five and would be active in skiing, swimming, and horseback riding. A bubbly, smiling figure in her performances, she was in fact a fierce competitor who wanted nothing to do with her rivals. ." These honors were the result of talent, intensive training, and an interest in doing something different from other skaters. An English translation, Wings on My Feet, was released in 1940 and republished in a revised edition in 1954. Towards the end of her career, she began to be strongly challenged by younger skaters including Cecilia Colledge, Megan Taylor, and Hedy Stenuf. As Sandra Stevenson recounted in The Independent, "the closeness [of the competition] infuriated Henie, who, when the result for that section was posted on a wall in the competitors' lounge, swiped the piece of paper and tore it into little pieces. Did Sonja Henie marry? The pretty, blond skater stood out among the competitors in a white silk and ermine skating dress that had a short skirt. By this time her movie career was over. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [29], Not to be confused with American basketball player, After the war, Henie was mindful that many of her countrymen considered her to be a, 1936 European Figure Skating Championships, "Cecilia Colledge: Champion figure skater", "AFI's 100 Years 100 Stars America's Greatest Legends", "Nektet pne festspill hvis Flagstad skulle synge", "International Women's Sports Hall of Fame", "Sonja Henie Joins 508th Regt. 3, Actors and Actresses (1986). From the Archives: Don Ameche, Dapper Film Star, Dies at 85, From the Archives: Andy Warhol, Pioneer of 60s Pop Art, Dies, From the Archives: Jazz Great Thelonious Monk Dies, From the Archives: Armand Hammer Dies; Billionaire, Art Patron, From the Archives: Buster Crabbe, Athlete, Hero of Serials, Dies. advertisement back to Norway and opened a museum to showcase their art collection. Sonja Henie - Hollywood Star Walk - Los Angeles Times The Norwegian Royal Family attended both events and indeed attended her funeral in 1969. From 1931 through 1936, Henie competed in and won six consecutive women's European Figure Skating Championships. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. She had to concentrate on her profession, and fulfill contracts, really from the age of nine on," he explained. from competitive skating Sonja wanted to pursue an acting career. According to a quote in the New York Times, Henie felt that she was working harder than ever: "When I was in championship competition I was on the ice for exactly four minutes. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. At 14 she was the Norwegian Skating Champion. She won the first of 10 consecutive world skating titles at Oslo in 1927, captivating the crowd with her ballet style, a white silk and ermine costume and short skirt and a dimpled smile. [3] While still a girl, Henie had decided that she wanted to move to California and become a movie star when her competitive days were over, without considering that her strong accent might hinder her acting ambitions. [citation needed] She then placed eighth in a field of eight at the 1924 Winter Olympics, at the age of eleven. 1974); James Robert Parish, The Fox Girls (1971); and James Vinson, ed., The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, vol. Henie has won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. [3][19] She is buried with Onstad in Oslo on the hilltop overlooking the Henie Onstad Art Centre. Her brother, Leif Henie, coauthored Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie (1985), in which he discussed her violent temper. She said her greatest hope was to become a movie star, and she soon did. In addition to the income from the fur business, both of Henie's parents had inherited wealth. After Henie won the world championship one last time in 1936, she prepared to retire from amateur sports and enter professional skating. Biography. Sonja had by now developed a comedy flair and these films were all among the top box-office hits for 20th Century-Fox the respective years. She was to have danced to "Lara's Theme" from Doctor Zhivago. Her free-skating program, with its musical medley of stage songs, received a standing ovation. Henie won the first of an unprecedented ten consecutive World Figure Skating Championships in 1927 at the age of fourteen. Short skirts and choreography were unknown in figure skating before Henie introduced them in the late 1920s. From the Archives: Star Skater Sonja Henie Dies Scott, Paula Pyzik "Henie, Sonja Typically, Henie films were short on plot and long on her trademark Less than a month later, she was married to a childhood friend, Niels Onstad, who had become a shipping magnate and art collector. While also working as an ice show star and producer, she became a multi-millionaire. the world performing in ice shows and landed many lucrative endorsement The couple decided to build a museum for their collection, and in 1968 donated 250 works to the Sonja Henie-Niels Onstad Art Center outside of Oslo. It is her effect on the sport of figure skating that is unrivaled. [citation needed], Henie is credited with being the first figure skater to use dance choreography, to adopt the short skirt in figure skating, and to wear white boots,[12] which deemphasized the heaviness of skates and produced a lighter and longer appearance of the skater's legs that was "a focal point for judges' and spectators' gaze". Her final two Hollywood films, released in 1945 by RKO and in 1948 by Universal, no longer enthralled postwar audiences, who preferred more sophisticated scripts. Sonja Henie, Skating Star, Dies - The New York Times How did Sonja Henie the ice Star die? - Answers Henie was not judged to be responsible for the incident, but she decided not to hold any more arena-style shows. It recounted that her appearance had been a front-page story in which Roelif Loveland had written "there is no simile to express adequately the grace and loveliness of this glamorous young woman." After Nora falls for the handsome owner, she convinces her uncle to invest in the inn and modernize it. Her medal record consisted of Norwegian national championships from 1922 to 1934, 6 European titles (19311936), 10 world titles (192736), and 3 gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games of 1928, 1932, and 1936. From 1937 to 1945 she was one of the leading box-office attractions in the film industry.
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