Lillebil Ibsen

Biography

Norweigan actress Lillebil Ibsen was born as Sofie Parelius Krohn. She was the daughter of engineer Georg Monrad Krohn and actress Gyda Andersen (Gyda Monrad Krohn). Later on, her mother married Halfdan Christensen and became Managing Director of "Det Nye Teater" in Norway (as Gyda Christensen). Lillebil Ibsen started her career as a young talented dancer and later became one of Norway's most distinguished stage actresses ever, mainly working at the national theatre stage in Norway, called "Nationaltheatret". She appeared in many classic works by Shaw, Moliére, Wilde, Ibsen and Shakespeare. She successfully played the part of Abby Brewster in Joseph Kesselring's comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (Arsenik og gamle kniplinger, Nationaltheatret, 1968). Lillebil Ibsen was above all a leading stage actress in Norway and did very few movie parts. Ironically, her greatest movie achievement is in a style-forming classic Swedish movie called Mannekäng i rött (1958), where she fabulously plays the role of stern fashion Mogul Thyra Lennberg (with perfect Swedish accent). The popular movie is part of the cultivated "Hillman-thriller" series (directed by Arne Mattsson; written by Folke Mellvig), which contains five movies, all with the name of a colour in the title.