Astrid Sommer (née Christiansen; 21 May 1906 – 9 April 1990) was a Norwegian actress who worked at the

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ()Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabløs. It opened in 19 ...

for more than fifty years.

Personal life

Astrid Christiansen was born in

Kristiania 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, an ...

(now Oslo) on 21 May 1906, to Carl Christiansen and Agnes Mathilde Rosendahl (née Hansen). She was the younger sister of actress

Johanne Bruhn Johanne Bruhn-Johnsen (8 May 1890 – 24 December 1921) was a Norwegian actress and was one of the leading actors at the Det Norske Teatret. Early life and career Johanne Rosendahl was born on 8 May 1890 in Christiania. She was the older sis ...

, one of the leading actresses at the Det Norske Teatret. On 16 November 1934, she married actor Alf Marius Sommer (1899–1963) in Oslo.

Career

Sommer's acting career began in 1918 when she played an extra on stage at the age of 12. In 1922, she began working as an apprentice at the

. Her breakthrough role was the character "Krestna" in

Oskar Braaten Oskar Braaten (25 November 1881 – 17 July 1939) was a Norwegian novelist and playwright. Biography Oskar Alexander Braaten was born in the Oslo borough of Sagene, one of Norway's oldest industrial areas, dating to the mid-19th century. Oskar ...

's play ''Ungen'' in 1929. Among her other characters were "Kvitugla" in

Olav Duun Olav Duun (21 November 1876 – 13 September 1939) was a writer of Norwegian fiction. He is generally recognized to be one of the more outstanding writers in Norwegian literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twenty-fo ...

's ''Medmenneske'' (several times between 1937 and 1976), Maren Dokter in

Arne Garborg Arne Garborg (born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg) (25 January 1851 – 14 January 1924) was a Norwegian writer. Garborg championed the use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk, or New Norwegian), as a literary language; he translated the Odyssey into i ...

's ''Læraren'' (in 1943, 1948 and 1951), and Smikkstugun in

Alf Prøysen Alf Prøysen () (23 July 1914 – 23 November 1970) was a Norwegian author, poet, playwright, songwriter and musician. Prøysen was one of the most important Norwegian cultural personalities in the second half of the 20th century. He work ...

s ''Trost i taklampa'' (1952 and 1963). She also played Bernarda in ''

The House of Bernarda Alba ''The House of Bernarda Alba'' () is a play (theatre), play by the Spain, Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Commentators have often grouped it with ''Blood Wedding (play), Blood Wedding'' and ''Yerma'' as the Rural Trilogy. García Lorc ...

'', Mother Aase in ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

'' and "

Mother Courage Mother Courage (German ''Mutter Courage'') is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel ''Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche'' (''The Runagate Courage'') dating from around 1670. The character had played a cameo r ...

". Her films include ''

Ungen ''Ungen'' (The Child or The Kid) is a Norwegian drama film from 1938 directed by Rasmus Breistein. The lead roles are played by Eva Sletto, Harald Heide Steen, and Ragnhild Hald. It is a film adaptation of Oskar Braaten's 1911 play ''Ungen: folk ...

'' (1938), ''

Godvakker-Maren ''Godvakker-Maren'' (Good Pretty Maren) is a Norwegian comedy film from 1940 directed by Knut Hergel, who also wrote the film script together with Alf Sommer and Einar Tveito. The script is based on Oskar Braaten's novel ''Bak høkerens disk'' ...

'' (1940), ''

Trysil-Knut ''Trysil-Knut'' is a Norwegian film from 1942. Rasmus Breistein directed this skiing melodrama during the German occupation of Norway. It tells the story of the legendary skier Knut from Trysil, an ardent patriot at the beginning of the 1800s wh ...

'' (1942), '' Trost i taklampa'' (1955) and ''

Hans Nielsen Hauge Hans Nielsen Hauge (3 April 1771 – 29 March 1824) was a 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran lay minister, spiritual leader, business entrepreneur, social reformer and author. He led a noted Pietism revival known as the Haugean movement. Hauge is al ...

'' (1961). Sommer also acted in radio plays including as ''Lørdagsnatt'' by

Vilhelm Moberg Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg (20 August 1898 – 8 August 1973) was a Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his four‑volume series ''The Emigrant ...

in 1975. She was also a popular reader of children's literature and poetry on radio.

Later life and death

Sommer received several scholarships, including the Hulda Garborg's scholarship, Houen's scholarship, Oslo City's scholarship, the state's artist scholarship, a scholarship from the Friends of the Norwegian Theatre. In 1983, she received the culture prize from the city of Oslo. She died 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 ...

on 9 April 1990, at the age of 83.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sommer, Astrid 1906 births 1990 deaths Actresses from Oslo Norwegian stage actresses Norwegian film actresses Norwegian radio actresses 20th-century Norwegian actresses