Rae Randall

Biography

Rae Randall was born Sigrum Solvason, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Salvason is how her name is spelled in the Los Angeles newspaper on her death but everywhere else it's Solvason. For example, David Bret's Greta Garbo: A Divine Star among other books and newspaper accounts such as the Winnipeg Free Press 10 May 1934.) Her husband, mining engineer Frederick Hessert, told police that her suicide in 1934 was due to the breakup of their marriage. Other accounts state that she was depressed at not having achieved the stardom she so desperately sought. She died surrounded by pictures of herself and Greta Garbo. Photoplay noted her death under the headline "Chalk up another tragedy of thwarted Hopes in Hollywood." Her mother, Mrs. P. Solvason, of Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada, was critically ill at the same time as Sigrum's death and was not told of her death (10 May 1934 Winnipeg Free Press). Her age is often given as 25 or 26 at the time of her death and subsequently in books but this seems to be too young. The 1901 Census of Canada for the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada lists her father as Solve Solvason, her mother as Paulina Solavsen, and Sigrun as the youngest of six children. Her birth date is given as 15 December 1898.