Alfred Næss (30 November 1927 – 30 November 1997) was a Norwegian playwright and songwriter for revue stages in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, in particular for

Chat Noir (French language, French for 'black cat') is a cabaret and revue theatre in Oslo, Norway. It was established in 1912 by Bokken Lasson. The current director is Tom Sterri. Establishment Chat Noir was established as a cabaret in 1912 by singer B ...

and the ABC theatre. He wrote material for artists like

Wenche Myhre Wenche Synnøve Myhre (born 15 February 1947), known in German as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, Danish, German and Swedish markets and languages. She represented Ger ...

and Dizzie Tunes and contributed to

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

comedies.

Personal life

Næss was born in

Vardø Municipality Vardø (; ; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. Vardø is the easternmost town in Norway, more to the east than Saint Petersburg or Istanbul. ...

, Finnmark county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

as the son of physician Aage Næss and Elna Elisabeth Eide. He was married to Anne Marie Dahl from 1953 to 1955, and to Marie Elisabeth Grønn-Nielsen from 1960 until her death in 1978. He was then married to Eivor Hilde Midthus since 1995. He died in Oslo in 1997, on his 70th birthday.

Career

After the forced evacuation and destruction of

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

in 1944/1945, Næss moved to Oslo and graduated from

Oslo Cathedral School Schola Osloensis, known in Norwegian language, Norwegian as Oslo Katedralskole (''Oslo Cathedral School'') and more commonly as "Katta",

in 1947. While studying jurisprudence in Oslo, he started writing student revues. His professional debut was the revue ''Ferske fjes'' from 1957, in cooperation with

Einar Schanke Einar Leonard Schanke (19 May 1927 – 23 February 1992) was a Norwegian composer, pianist, revue writer, theatre director and theatrical producer. He wrote revues for the Edderkoppen Theatre, and later for Chat Noir, where he was also directo ...

, staged on

. From 1959 to 1975 he worked for Chat Noir, and from 1976 to 1992 for the ABC theatre. He was the main writer for the show group Dizzie Tunes, in cooperation with the group's leader Yngvar Numme. He delivered material to

's show ''I all Wenchelhet'' from 1979, and

Øivind Blunck Øivind Blunck (28 December 1950) is a Norwegian comedian and actor.Øivind Blunck
in Hege Schøyen Hege Schøyen (born 22 May 1957, in Oslo) is a Norwegian singer, actor and comedian. She has played at the Oslo revue theatre Chat Noir and at Nationaltheatret. She was television presenter for the youth program series ''Midt i smørøyet'' at th ...

's shows ''Bare gode venner'' and ''Fast følge''. He wrote songs for the 1965 film ''Stompa forelsker seg'', and for the 1966 film ''Hurra for Andersens''. Among his best-known songs are ''På Enerhaugen'' from 1960 (performed by Arvid Nilssen) and ''Vinter og sne'' from 1966 (performed by Wenche Myhre). He was awarded the

Leonard Statuette ''Leonardstatuetten'' (Leonard Statuette) is a prize awarded by the Norwegian Comedy Writers' Association. The award is named after revue instructor, composer and director Einar Schanke, Einar Leonard Schanke (1927–1992), who was one of Norway's ...

in 1981, and received the

King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

in gold in 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naess, Alfred 1927 births 1997 deaths People from Vardø Norwegian songwriters NRK people Leonard Statuette winners Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold People educated at Oslo Cathedral School 20th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Norwegian male writers Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights