Henny Elisabeth Moan (22 February 1936 – 8 September 2024) was a Norwegian actress. She had a long career in theatre, but is best known for her roles in certain classics of Norwegian cinema, such as the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-nominated '' Nine Lives'' (1957) and ''

Lake of the Dead ''Lake of the Dead'' (Norwegian title: , also known as Lake of the Damned) is a 1958 Norwegian mystery horror film directed by Kåre Bergstrøm. The film stars Henki Kolstad, Henny Moan and Georg Richter. In 2019, a remake named '' Lake of De ...

'' (1958). Moan was married to the author André Bjerke and later lived with singer Ole Paus.

Biography

Born in Alta in

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 ...

on 22 February 1936, Moan grew up in Gratangen and

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

. At the age of 17 she left her home in Northern Norwaywhere she worked at a

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

without telling anyone where she was going. She moved to Oslo where she applied to the Norwegian Theatre Academy. Here she was accepted in the first intake in the history of the school, in 1953. Moan has always been characterised by her short-cropped hair, a style she came up with in 1954, at a time when this was still quite uncommon for girls. She claimed she originally did it because it was convenient, and because she had worn her hair like that as a child, to avoid

lice Louse (: lice) is the common name for any member of the infraorder Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera was previously recognized as an order, until a 2021 genetic study determined th ...

and to make the hair grow out thicker. From 1959 to 1972 Moan was married to celebrated Norwegian author André Bjerke. In 1960, they had a daughter, Vilde, who later wrote a book about her childhood. Henny and André lived together until their daughter was nine, at which point they separated. She lived with singer and songwriter Ole Paus from 1973 to 1976, and had one son with him. She resided in

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

, having first bought a house there in 1963. Moan died on 8 September 2024, at the age of 88.

Career

Moan acted both at Det Norske Teatret (the Norwegian Theater), Oslo Nye Teater and at

Nationaltheatret The National Theatre in Oslo () is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts. History The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiania Theatre, which was ...

(the National Theatre), in roles such as "Marguerite" in Dumas's '' The Lady of the Camellias'', and "Miss Julie" in

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 play ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

by that name. In 2006 she won the award "Aase Byes ærespris". She played her last part before retirement early in 2007. After retiring she started working on her autobiography. She is also known for her work in movies, and had a role in the

-nominated '' Nine Lives'' in 1957. This film was in 2005 named the best movie in the history of Norwegian film, by a jury of movie critics. After this she received offers from

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 ...

, but decided to stay in Norway. While married to Bjerke, she took part in the adaptation of his novel ''

''. Here she appeared in what was to become an iconic scene of Norwegian cinema, where she walks in a white, translucent dress along a tarn in the forest. More recently she had a brief part in Bent Hamer's '' O' Horten''. On television she is known for her role in the 1978

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

series '' Blindpassasjer'' (Blind passengers), written by Tor Åge Bringsværd and Jon Bing. She played the part of "Edvarda" in a 1975 TV series based on

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature, 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to conscio ...

's novels '' Benoni'' and ''Rosa''. Moan also worked with television drama for several years. She received the Amanda honorary award in 2010, and was decorated Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 2020.

Select filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moan, Henny 1936 births 2024 deaths People from Alta, Norway Norwegian stage actresses Norwegian film actresses Norwegian television actresses 21st-century Norwegian actresses 20th-century Norwegian actresses