Hester Sondergaard (July 5, 1903 – February 26, 1994) was an American actress.

Early years

Born in Litchfield, Minnesota, Sondergaard was the daughter of Hans T. Søndergaard, a dairy instructor at a university, and the sister of actress

Gale Sondergaard Gale Sondergaard (born Edith Holm Sondergaard; February 15, 1899 – August 14, 1985) was an American actress. Sondergaard began her acting career in theater and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award ...

. When she was a child, she played violin with Midwestern Chautauqua companies. She attended the University of Minnesota, where she was active in productions of the Masquers Club.

Career

Sondergaard's first professional speaking part came in 1924. After college, she acted with the Wisconsin Players and in venues that included the Civic Repertory Theater in New York. Her Broadway credits include ''Galileo'' (1947), '' My Heart's in the Highlands'' (1939), '' Marching Song'' (1937), ''Bitter Stream'' (1936), ''Mother'' (1935), and ''Black Pit'' (1935). On radio, Sondergaard was an organizer of '' The American School of the Air''. She also acted on '' Portia Faces Life'', ''Road of Life'', '' Wendy Warren and the News'', and ''We Love and Learn''. An article in the December 1949 issue of ''Radio and Television Mirror'' magazine described Sondergaard as having "one of the largest repertories icof dialects of any actress", being able to sound authentic in roles using any of 11 accents. Sondergaard taught dramatics at the Dramatic School of New York.

Personal life

In 1949, Sondergaard married politician Hugh De Lacy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sondergaard, Hester 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Minnesota American radio actresses American stage actresses 1903 births 1994 deaths