Elvina Teresia "Elly" Kjølstad (née Nielsen, October 3, 1850 – August 30, 1930) was a Norwegian stage actress.

Family

Elly Kjølstad was the daughter of the journeyman Niels Christian Nielsen and Marte Elisabeth Olsen (Larsen). She was the sister of the actress

Mathilde Nielsen Mathilde Nielsen (26 October 1858 – 11 September 1945) was a Danish actress in the theatre and in Danish cinema. She was known as a figure of matriarchy in Danish film. Selected filmography *'' Hævnens nat'' 1916 *'' Prästänkan'' 1920 *'' ...

. On August 31, 1873, she married the orthopedist and lawyer Thorvald Nils Gotfrid Essendrop Kjølstad (1832–1910). Their daughter

Snefrid Aukland Snefrid Erika Aukland (née Kjølstad, October 5, 1884 – January 14, 1977) was a Norwegian actress. Family Snefrid Aukland was the daughter of the orthopedist and lawyer Thorvald Nils Gotfrid Essendrop Kjølstad (1832–1910) and the actress ...

(a.k.a. Erika Warnecke) was also an actress. An older daughter, Svanhild, died in 1885.

Career

Elly Kjølstad was a pupil of the Danish theater director Frederik Adolph Cetti in her hometown of Bergen. She made her stage debut with Cetti's company in the autumn of 1870 in the play ''Syv militære Piger''. She followed Cetti in the 1870–1871 season in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

and

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. She made her Christiania debut on March 27, 1873, at the

Christiania Theatre Christiania Theatre, or ''Kristiania Theatre'', was Norway's finest stage for spoken drama from 4 October 1836 (opening date) to 1 September 1899. It was located at Bankplassen by the Akershus Fortress, in central Christiania. It was the fir ...

, in the role of Helen in ''Slægtningene''. She was employed at this theater for a few years, after which she was associated with the

Carl Johan Theater The Carl Johan Theater () was a theater in Oslo, Norway. It was initially located in the Christiania Tivoli amusement park in Oslo from 1893 to 1895, where it was led by Olaf Mørch Hansson. It staged performance of works such as Henrik Ibsen's G ...

for a period. In the fall of 1900, she went on tour with the production ''Nordstrandrevyen''. In 1910 she took part in

Bjørn Bjørnson Bjørn Bjørnson (15 November 1859 – 14 May 1942) was a Norwegian stage actor and theatre director. Biography He was born in Christiania, the son of author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1 ...

's tour in Denmark, where she played Malla in the play ''

Geografi og Kærlighed ''Geografi og Kærlighed'' (Geography and Love) is a play by the Norwegian playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. It was written in 1885 and it premiered at the Christiania Theatre on October 21, 1885. Bjørnson later reworked the last act of the pla ...

''. She also took part in the same tour in Norway the following year.

Selected roles

*Helen in ''Slægtningene'' by

Henriette Nielsen Birgitte Dorothea Henriette Nielsen, pen name Theodora, (23 January 1815 – 17 January 1900) was a Danish writer and playwright born in Strandgården, Vester Thorup, in the north of Jutland. Her ''Slægtningene'' (1849), presented in Copenhagen's ...

(Christiania Theater, 1873) *Ulrikke in ''Unsere Frauen'' (Norwegian title: ''Vore Koner'') by

Gustav von Moser Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

and

Franz von Schönthan Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

(Fredrikshalds Teater, 1882) *The bride in the vaudeville monologue ''Bruden paa Staburet'' by

Hans Schulze Hans Schulze (25 August 1911 – 26 January 1992) was a German water polo player who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1932 he was part of the German team which won the silver medal. He played all four ...

(1883) *The merchant's wife in ''Ein geadelter Kaufmann'' (Norwegian title: ''Børsbaronen'') by

Karl August Görner Karl or Carl August Görner (29 January 1806, in Berlin – 9 April 1884, in Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after ...

(Carl Johan Theater, 1893) *Nille in '' Jeppe paa Bierget'' by

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Denmark–Norway, Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was infl ...

(Trondheim, 1896) *Malla in ''

'' by

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

(Denmark, 1910)

References

External links

Elly Kjølstad
at Sceneweb {{DEFAULTSORT:Kjolstad, Elly 1850 births 1930 deaths 19th-century Norwegian actresses Norwegian stage actresses 20th-century Norwegian actresses Actresses from Bergen