Asta nielsen biography for kids

Danish silent film actress (1881–1972)

Not to be confused with Aasta Nielsen.

Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen (11 September 1881 – 24 May 1972) was topping Danish silent film actress who was one of the extremity popular leading ladies of say publicly 1910s and one of righteousness first international movie stars.

70 of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta (The Asta).

Known plan her large dark eyes, erect face and boyish figure, Nielsen most often portrayed strong-willed ardent women trapped by tragic fate. Due to the erotic connect of her performances, Nielsen's big screen were censored in the Banded together States, and her work remained relatively obscure to American audiences.

She is credited with transformation movie acting from overt staginess to a more subtle practical style.

Nielsen founded her own single studio in Berlin during rendering 1920s, but returned to Danmark in 1937 after the dupe of Nazism in Germany. Unembellished private figure in her succeeding years, Nielsen became a icon artist and an author.

Early life

Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen was born in the Vesterbro partition of Copenhagen, Denmark, the chick of Jens Christian Nielsen (1847–1895), an often unemployed blacksmith, arm Ida Frederikke Petersen (1843–1912), top-notch washerwoman. She had an senior sister, Johanne, who suffered flight rheumatic fever throughout her living.

Nielsen's family moved several age during her childhood while equal finish father sought employment. They flybynight for several years in Malmö, Sweden, where her father studied at a corn mill take up then a factory. After good taste lost those jobs, they correlative to live in the Kobenhavn neighborhood of Nørrebro. Nielsen's ecclesiastic died when she was 14 years old.

At the regard of 18, Nielsen was pitch into the acting school castigate the Royal Danish Theatre. Extensive her time there, she assumed closely with Royal Danish Entity Peter Jerndorff. In 1901, 21-year-old Nielsen became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Jesta. Nielsen never revealed the father's identity, but chose to learn her child alone with nobleness help of her mother cope with older sister.

Jesta committed killer in 1964.

Nielsen graduated stick up the Theater school in 1902. For the next three grow older she worked at the Dagmar Theatre, then toured in Norge and Sweden from 1905 swing by 1907 with De Otte near the Peter Fjelstrup companies. Cyclical to Denmark, she was hired at Det Ny Theater escape 1907 to 1910.

Although she worked steadily as a situation actress, her performances remained masticate. Danish historian Robert Neiiendam wrote that Nielsen's unique physical gravitation, which was of great regulate on the screen, was full of meaning on stage by her abyssal and uneven speaking voice.

Film career

Nielsen began her film career sound 1909, starring in director City Gad's 1910 tragedy Afgrunden ("The Abyss").

Nielsen's minimalist acting look was evidenced in her operational portrayal of a naive junior woman lured into a deadly life. Her overt sexuality throw the film's "gaucho dance" prospect established the erotic quality fulfill which Nielsen became known. On account of of the film's success, Nielsen continued to act in movies rather than on stage.

Nielsen and Gad married, then imposture four more films together. Character explosion of Nielsen's popularity propelled Gad and Nielsen to advance from Denmark to Germany place she was provided her ordinary film studio and the vacancy for greater profits.^[6]

In Germany, Nielsen formed a contract with European producer Paul Davidson, who supported the Internationale Film-Vertriebs-Gesellschaft in blend with Nielsen and Gad.^[7] Nobleness company held the European direct on all Nielsen films leading Nielsen became a "scintillating omnipresent film star", known simply significance Die Asta (The Asta), look after an annual fee of 85,000 marks in 1914 alone.^[8][9]

Davidson affirmed Nielsen as the decisive stuff for his move to skin productions:

I had not back number thinking about film production.

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But ergo I saw the first Asta Nielsen film. I realised dump the age of short coating was past. And above employment I realised that this girl was the first artist thorough the medium of film. Asta Nielsen, I instantly felt could be a global success. Flip your lid was international film sales walk provided Union with eight Nielsen films per year.

I bod her a studio in Tempelhof, and set up a capacious production staff around her. That woman can carry it ... Let the films cost anything they cost. I used every so often available means – and devised many new ones – utilize order to bring the Asta Nielsen films to the world.^[7][10]

Nielsen contracted for $80,000 a generation, then the highest salary disperse a film star.

Nielsen psychotherapy called the first international veil star, challenged only by Country comic Max Linder, also noted throughout Europe and in Usa by that time. In organized Russian popularity poll of 1911, Nielsen was voted the world's top female movie star, behindhand Linder and ahead of unlimited Danish compatriot Valdemar Psilander.

Turn a deaf ear to film 'A Militant Suffragette' was disrupted at a showing have round the Queen's Cinema, Aberdeen, Scotland on 4 February 1914, mass local suffragists objecting to high-mindedness portrayal of force-feeding.^[11] However she remained popular on both sides through World War I tube in 1915 (before the Coalesced States' entry into it) she visited New York City encircling study American film techniques.

Subdue, she departed Germany after put in order mob on the Unter skilful Linden mistook her for unembellished Russian at the beginning disbursement the war.^[12]

In 1921, Nielsen, bow her own film distribution group of students of Asta Films, appeared run to ground the Svend Gade and Industrialist Schall directed Hamlet.

The coating was a radical interpretation rule William Shakespeare's play, with Nielsen playing the role of Deposit as a woman who disguises herself as a man.^[13]

Several variety, including IMDb, state that Nielsen played Mata Hari in highrise early-1920s film variously titled Mata Hari, Die Spionin ('The Spy').

However, scholarly works such on account of the authoritative filmography published by virtue of Filmarchiv Austria in 2010^[14] put together no mention of such skilful film. Film scholar Ivo Blom has concluded that the concept of Nielsen playing Mata Hari on film arose from well-organized confusion with her now-lost layer Die Tänzerin Navarro (1922), which features a plot similar destroy the story of Mata Hari's life.^[15]

In 1925, she starred hold up the German film Die freudlose Gasse (The Joyless Street subjugation The Street of Sorrow), fated by G.W.

Pabst and co-starring Greta Garbo, months before Actress left for Hollywood and MGM.^[16]

She worked in German films forthcoming the start of sound flicks. Nielsen made only one deed movie with sound, Unmögliche Liebe (Crown of Thorns) in 1932. However, the new technical developments in cinema were not fit to Nielsen's style, nor could her maturity compete with class young American ingenues, so she retired from the screen.

Next, Nielsen acted only on episode. After the rise of Absolutism she was offered her have studio by propaganda minister Patriarch Goebbels. Nielsen later described personality invited to tea with Adolf Hitler, who tried to prove her to return to skin and explained the political end of her on-screen presence.^[6] Agreement the implications, Nielsen declined captain left Germany in 1936.

She returned home to Denmark place she wrote articles on declare and politics and a two-volume autobiography.

She is considered phizog be a great movie participant because of her natural execution style, adapting to the pressing of the film media present-day avoiding theatrical dramatization. She was also adept at portraying cadre from varying social strata importance well as of different psychologies.

Assistance to Jews during Sphere War II

During the Second Area War, she provided money misjudge Allan O. Hagedorff, a teenaged Dane living in Germany, go down with assist Jews. Using money wanting by Nielsen, Hagedorff sent and over many food parcels to birth Theresienstadt Ghetto that he was warned by the Gestapo.

Amongst others, Victor Klemperer, the writer and philologist, was offered banknotes by Hagedorff.

Relationships and death

Nielsen abstruse four extended relationships and was divorced twice. In 1912, she married the Danish film manager Urban Gad following their corrosion together to Germany in 1911 to build their own disc studio.^[18] They were divorced indifference 1919 when Nielsen married glory Swedish shipbuilder Freddy Windgårdh.^[18] That marriage was shorter, ending amuse divorce in 1923.

Nielsen strike down in love with the Slavic actor Gregori Chmara whom she met through their mutual boon companion Georg Brandes. They began spiffy tidy up long-term common-law marriage that lasted from 1923 until 1936.^[18] Nielsen began a relationship in influence late 1960s with Danish cut up collector Christian Theede, whom she had met through dealings bear witness her own artwork.

In 1970, at the age of 88, Nielsen married the 70-year-old Theede. Nielsen and Theede's happiness reduced marrying at an advanced search was celebrated in the area press.^[18] Nielsen died at nobility age of 90 on 25 May 1972 at Frederiksberg Haven.

Quotes about Asta Nielsen

"Asta Nielsen" means the power show consideration for speak of pathos, to have a view over pain, and to find ethics middle path between Baudelaire's blossom of evil and the qualmish rose of which Blake hum.

— M.S. Fonseca, The International Encyclopedia of Films And Filmmakers: Arrangement and Actresses

There is splendid film in which Asta Nielsen is looking out of decency window and sees someone take care. A mortal fear, a afraid horror, appears on her example. But she gradually realizes put off she is mistaken and prowl the man who is coming, far from spelling disaster, wreckage the answer to her prayers.

The expression of horror send off her face is gradually stately through the entire scale short vacation feelings from hesitant doubt, trepidation hope and cautious joy, stick through to exultant happiness. Phenomenon watch her face in closeup for some twenty metres holiday film. We see every pointer of expression around her contented and mouth and watch them relax one by one promote slowly change.

For minutes oddity end we witness the radical development of her feelings, take nothing beyond.

— Béla Balázs, Visible Man, or the Culture adequate Film (1924)^[20]

In terms annotation expression and versatility, I underhand nothing to her.

— Greta Garbo^[21]

Legacy

Belgian Paul van Ostaijen included rendering expressionistic poem "Asta Nielsen", spiffy tidy up paean to Nielsen's sensuousness, flowerbed his 1921 collection Bezette Stad (Occupied City).^[22][23]

Joachim Ringelnatz, who was a frequent guest at Nielsens' home, wrote the poems "Über Asta Nielsen" (About Asta Nielsen) - for his 1928 grade Reisebriefe eines Artisten (An Artist's Travel Letters) ^[24] - unthinkable "Asta Nielsen weiht einen Pokal" (Asta Nielsen Dedicates a Trophy) in 1929.^[25]

Filmography

Notes

References

• Morris, Gary (April 1996). "Asta Nielsen". Bright Lights Film Journal (16).

  Retrieved 4 November 2011.

• DFI. "Asta Nielsen". Det Danske Filminstitut. Archived from the original curled 25 January 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
• Klemperer, Victor (2001). "Die Tagebücher 1933–1945". I Will Earnings Witness 1942–1945: A Diary regard the Nazi Years. Modern Meditate on. ISBN .
• Malmkjær, Poul (2000).

  Asta: Mennesket, Myten, og Filmstjernen. P Haase & Sons. p. 343.

• Neiiendam, Robert (1939). "Asta Nielsen". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon.
• Fonseca, M. S. (1988). "Asta Nielsen". In Vinson, James (ed.). The International Dictionary of Films See Filmmakers: Actors and Actresses.

  London: Papermac.

External links