Endel Nelis (28 September 1925 Karuse Parish,

Lääne County Lääne County ( et, Lääne maakond or ''Läänemaa'', literally "Western land"; german: Wiek; la, Rotalia) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in western Estonia and borders the Baltic Sea to the north, Harju County to the north-ea ...

– 12 April 1993

Haapsalu Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375. Description Haapsalu has been well known for centuries for its ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

n fencer and fencing coach. In 1950 he graduated from

Tartu State University The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

in physical education. From 1950 to 1966 he was a member of Estonian national espadron team. In 1955 and 1961 he was the Estonian champion in fencing. After an active fencing career, he taught fencing at Haapsalu sport school. The 2015 Finnish-Estonian-German film ''

The Fencer ''The Fencer'' ( fi, Miekkailija, et, Vehkleja) is a 2015 biographical drama film about the life of Endel Nelis, an accomplished Estonian fencer and coach. It was directed by Klaus Härö and written by Anna Heinämaa. Filming began in Eston ...

'', directed by

Klaus Härö Klaus Härö (born 31 March 1971 in Porvoo, Finland) is a Finnish film director. In 2004, he won Finland's State Prize for Art. Härö grew up in a Swedish-speaking Finnish family. He studied directing and attended screen writing seminars at the ...

, is loosely based on the life of Endel Nelis. Awards: * 1967: Estonian SSR merited coach

References

1925 births 1993 deaths Estonian male fencers Estonian sports coaches University of Tartu alumni People from Lääneranna Parish 20th-century Estonian people {{estonia-fencing-bio-stub