Benjamin Christensen
actor, director, writer
- Born:
- 1879-09-28, Viborg, Denmark
- Died:
- 1959-04-02, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
A candle-maker’s son from Viborg, Denmark, Benjamin Christensen entered the world on 28 September 1879; he would spend the next eight decades turning that world on its head. After trading tallow for celluloid, he conjured the courtroom chills of *Blind Justice* (1916), scandalized Europe and America with the witchcraft docu-nightmare *Häxan* (1922), and let New York audiences lose themselves—and their nerves—in the haunted corridors of *Seven Footprints to Satan* (1929). Along the way he married three times—to Karen Winther, Sigrid Stahl, and finally Ellen Arctander—collecting muses as avidly as he collected cinematic taboos. His last curtain call came on 2 April 1959, in Copenhagen, leaving behind a body of work that still whispers, cackles, and prowls through the history of film.
