Ingolf Findregaard Schanche (13 June 1877 – 15 April 1954) was a Norwegian actor and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. He spent most of his career 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 ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, and was also the first artistic director at

Det Nye Teater Det Nye Teater was a theatre that opened in Oslo, Norway, in 1929, and operated independently until 1959, when it merged with Folketeatret to form Oslo Nye Teater. Its original purpose was to support contemporary Norwegian drama. History The ...

Personal life

Schanche was born 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 ...

as the son of shipmaster Christian Fredrik Grøner Schanche (1847–1918) and Ida P. M. Larsen (1848–1896). He was a distant relative of postmaster Jens Schanche and Herman Garmann Schanche. He married the actress Ragnhild Fredriksen (1882–1963) in July 1905, making him the brother-in-law of the actress

Hilda Fredriksen Hilda Fredriksen (December 10, 1873 – June 30, 1945) was a Norwegian stage and film actress. Family Hilda Fredriksen was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, as the daughter of the police officer Carl Fredriksen (1847–1902) and Maren Gust ...

Career

He made his stage début in 1897 at the Bergen theatre

Den Nationale Scene Den Nationale Scene () is the largest theatre in Bergen, Norway. Den Nationale Scene is also one of the oldest permanent theatres in Norway. History Opened under the name '' Det Norske Theater'' in 1850, the theatre has roots dating back to its ...

in Peter Egge's play ''Stridsmænd'', and acted at Den Nationale Scene for two seasons. He joined Ludovica Levy and

Dore Lavik Dorotheus Olivarius Lavik a.k.a. Dore Lavik (4 June 1863 – 18 June 1908) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. He worked as an actor at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen from 1895, and chaired the theatre Sekondteatret in Kristiania f ...

at their theatre Sekondteatret in

from the start in 1899. One year later he played at

Centralteatret Centralteatret (); (full name: Oslo Nye Centralteatret) is a theatre on Akersgata, in the city centre of Oslo, Norway. Centralteatret was established by the husband-and-wife acting team of Johan Fahlstrøm and Alma Fahlstrøm, in 1897. The thea ...

and then at Fahlstrøms Teater. In 1905 he started working at

. He stayed at Nationaltheatret until 1928, when he was actor and manager for

, which opened in 1929. From 1931 to 1942 he again played at Nationaltheatret. Schanche also appeared in a number of films beginning with the 1913 Carl Gandrup directed

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 ...

short ''Under Kniven''. His last film appearance was in the 1939

Sigurd Wallén Sigurd Richard Engelbrekt Wallén (1 September 188420 March 1947) was a Swedish actor, film director, and singer.Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

drama ''Mot nya tider''. During the 1920s he often made guest performances at theatres in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

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 ...

and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. He played comedy roles such as "Count Danilo" in Lehár's ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' ( ) is an operetta by the Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The Libretto, librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein (writer), Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's ...

'',

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

characters such as "Bishop Nikolas" and "Gregers Werle", the Bjørnson character "Paul Lange", and "Fedja" in

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...

's play ''

The Living Corpse ''The Living Corpse'' () is a Russian play by Leo Tolstoy. Although written around 1900, it was only published shortly after his death—Tolstoy had never considered the work finished. An immediate success, it is still performed. Arthur Hopkins ...

''. The height of his career was "Hamlet" in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

, a role he played first time in 1921. Schanche was an honorary member of the Swedish Union for Theatre, Artists and Media. He was a Knight of the Swedish

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry founded on 29 May 1772 by Gustav III, King Gustav III. It is awarded to Swedish citizens for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. His ...

, and was decorated Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1937.

References

External links

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Family genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schanche, Ingolf 1877 births 1954 deaths Male actors from Bergen Norwegian male stage actors Norwegian male film actors Norwegian male silent film actors 20th-century Norwegian male actors Norwegian theatre directors Knights of the Order of Vasa Theatre people from Bergen