Kirsten Rolffes (20 September 1928 – 10 April 2000) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

actress, internationally mostly recognized for her roles in '' The Kingdom'' and ''

Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

''. She also had a leading role in Denmark's first sitcom, ''Een stor familie'' (''One big family''), set in an early 1980s office building. She attended drama school at Frederiksberg Theater (1947-48) and at the National Theater (Kongelige teater; 1948-50).

Career

Her role in the country's first

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

''Landsbyen'' (''The Village'') helped cement her fame in her native country. She also worked in animation, voicing Ursula in the

Danish language Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schle ...

version of Disney's ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

'',

Maleficent Maleficent ( or ) is a fictional character who appears as the main antagonist in Walt Disney Productions' 16th animated feature film, ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1959). She is represented as an evil fairy and the self-proclaimed " Mistress of All Evil ...

in the Danish dub of ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'', the

Fairy Godmother In fairy tales, a fairy godmother () is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perrault's ''Cinderella'', he concludes the tale wit ...

in the Danish dub of

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

and the

Evil Queen The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent ...

in the Danish dub of '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarves''. She also acted on stage at the National Theater (Det kongelige teater) between 1950-63 and 1988-94.

Honors

She was knighted in 1990 by Queen

Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent fema ...

for her services to the theatrical arts.

Death

After fighting breast cancer and having multiple surgical operations, she conceded to the disease and halted treatment in 1995. She died in 2000 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, survived by her three children, and is interred in Garrison Cemetery.

Filmography

External links

*
Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon
om Kirsten Rolffes
Danish Female Biographical Lexicon
for Kirsten Rolffes 1928 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Danish actresses Danish voice actresses Danish television actresses Danish stage actresses Soap opera actresses Best Actress Bodil Award winners Actresses from Copenhagen Deaths from cancer in Denmark Deaths from breast cancer Best Actress Robert Award winners Burials at the Garrison Cemetery, Copenhagen {{Denmark-actor-stub