Gerd Egede-Nissen

Biography

Among the finest Norwegian stage actresses, at her best in classical roles. Remembered for her portrayals of Hedda Gabler and Ella Rentheim, (Ibsen) Viola, (Shakespeare) and as Maria Stuart. (Schiller) At the age of 17 she entered the silent movie industry, first in Denmark, later in Germany, where she and two of her sisters in 1917 created a film-production company. She appeared in only one Norwegian film; a leading role as Edvarda in "Pan". During the second world war she married poet Nordahl Grieg, both in exile in London. He was killed under an air-raid over Berlin in 1943. After the war she wrote a biography about her late husband: " Nordahl Grieg- As I knew Him " 1957. Living in to an old age, her last years were dominated by poor health, and she was almost forgotten by the public. But those who had been seeing her in the golden years of great performances remembered her well. Among them where writer and film director Arne Skouen,he wrote a fine obituary in remembrance of a great actress. Gerd (Egede-Nissen) Grieg died in a nursing home in Oslo at the age of 93.