Thor Modéen

Biography

Thor Modéen is the great Swedish comedian of the 1930s and 1940s, both in the movies and at the theatre. His presence in a movie usually meant that it was rescued from disaster at the box-offices, even if he only appeared in a small role. He usually played cigar-smoking wholesalers, carefree recruits or policemen, and he always dominated any scene with him in it. In movies like Klart till drabbning (1937) or Tonight or Never (1941) his pacemaker is Åke Söderblom, which creates a physical contrast between the big, phlegmatic and scatterbrained Thor Modéen and the short and tiny Åke Söderblom. He mainly appeared in low-brow comedies although he surely could have managed dramatic parts. Not many actors are well remembered almost fifty years after their deaths. Modeen is one of the few.