Einar Hanson (;

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden – ;

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

), also known as Einar Hansen, was a Swedish

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

actor.

Career

Discovered at Stockholm's

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The theatre has been at its present lo ...

by director

Mauritz Stiller Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 8 November 1928) was a Finnish film director of Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller was a pioneer of the Swedish film industry, writing ...

, handsome and sophisticated, he was in 1927 ideally positioned to take over from the late

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

as Hollywood's "great screen lover". Upon his arrival in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

in 1925, along with Stiller and the director's other protégée

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...

, Hanson starred opposite some of the era's leading ladies, including

Pola Negri Pola Negri (; born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienn ...

and

Corinne Griffith Corinne Griffith (née Griffin; November 21, 1894 – July 13, 1979) was an American film actress, producer, author and businesswoman. Dubbed "The Orchid Lady of the Screen", she was widely regarded as one of the most beautiful actresses of the ...

. Hanson was destined for even bigger and better things at

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

, who had bought his original five-year contract from

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

. He showed great progress opposite

Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...

and

Esther Ralston Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an American silent films, silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was ''To the Last Man (1933 film), To the Last Man'' in 1933. Early life and c ...

in '' Children of Divorce'', as well as ''The Woman on Trial'' and ''

Barbed Wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

'' both with

, and ''Fashions for Women'' (all 1927), directed by

Dorothy Arzner Dorothy Emma Arzner (January 3, 1897 – October 1, 1979) was an American film director whose career in Hollywood spanned from the silent era of the 1920s into the early 1940s. With the exception of long-time silent film director Lois Weber, fro ...

Death

On June 3, 1927, Hanson was on his way home from having dinner with Stiller and Garbo when his car apparently skidded off the road on the

Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to: Roads * Pacific Coast Highway or PCH, segments of California State Route 1 * Pacific Coast Highway, parts of New Zealand State Highway 2 and all of New Zealand State Highway 25 and New Zealand State Highway 35. ...

near

Topanga Canyon Topanga (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is an unincorporated community in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow southern ...

. He died on the way to the hospital.

Barry Paris Barry Paris (born February 6, 1948) is an author and journalist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Paris' best-known works include biographies of film stars Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo and Audrey Hepburn. He is a movie reviewer for the ''Pittsbur ...

, in his 1994 biography ''Garbo'', says that Hanson met Garbo and Stiller at a party where Hanson became intoxicated and he drove off on his own, leading to the fatal accident.

Filmography

* ''Hemsöborna'' (1919) * '' Mälarpirater'' (1923) * ''

The Blizzard "The Blizzard" (or The Snow Storm) (, ''Metél' '') is the second of five short stories that constitute ''The Belkin Tales'' by Alexander Pushkin. The manuscript for the story was originally completed October 20, 1830. It was intended to be the la ...

'' (1923) based on the

Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...

novel ''Gunnar Hedes saga'' * '' Johan Ulfstjerna'' (1923) * '' 33.333'' (1924) * '' Life in the Country'' (1924) * ''

Fra Piazza del Popolo Fra is a title of a friar. Fra or FRA may also refer to: Codes * fra, the ISO 639-2 code for the French language * FRA, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code for France * FRA, the IOC country code for France at the Olympics * Framingham station, Amtra ...

'' (1925) * ''

Rags and Silk ''Rags and Silk'' (German: ''Lumpen und Seide'') is a 1925 German silent comedy film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Reinhold Schünzel, Mary Parker and Johannes Riemann.Grange p.189 The film's sets were designed by the art director Ku ...

'' (1925) * ''

40 Skipper Street ''40 Skipper Street'' (Swedish: ''Skeppargatan 40'') is a 1925 Swedish silent drama film directed by Gustaf Edgren and starring Einar Hanson, Mona Mårtenson and Magda Holm. It was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm. The film's sets were ...

'' (1925) * '' Takt, tone og tosser'' (1925) * ''

The Joyless Street ''Joyless Street'' (), also titled ''The Street of Sorrow'' or ''The Joyless Street'', is a 1925 German silent film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst starring Greta Garbo, Asta Nielsen and Werner Krauss. It is based on a novel by Hugo Bettauer ...

'' (1925) directed by

G. W. Pabst Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. ...

* '' Into Her Kingdom'' (1926) * ''

Her Big Night ''Her Big Night'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Melville W. Brown and written by Brown, Rex Taylor, and Nita O'Neil. It is based on the 1925 short story, ''Doubling for Lora'', by Peggy Gaddis that was originally serializ ...

'' (1926) * '' The Lady in Ermine'' (1927) * '' The Masked Woman'' (1927) * '' Fashions for Women'' (1927) * '' Children of Divorce'' (1927) * ''

'' (1927) * ''

The Woman on Trial ''The Woman on Trial'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Pola Negri, and based on the play ''Confession'' by Erno Wajda (aka Ernest Vajda). Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky, and B. P. Schulberg produced for ...

'' (1927)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Einar Swedish male silent film actors 20th-century Swedish male actors Swedish male film actors Road incident deaths in California 1899 births 1927 deaths Male actors from Stockholm Swedish expatriate male actors in the United States