Lars "Lasse" Kolstad (10 January 1922 – 14 January 2012) was a Norwegian actor and singer. Active from the 1940s, he was known from many stage roles, but primarily as "

Tevye Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman (, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the musical '' ...

" in ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

''. As a secondary school student, Kolstad was president of the graduating class ('' russ'') council of his school, and eventually for all of

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 ...

. As this was in 1940, the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

put a damper on any great festivities that year. In 1943 he had his début at

Trøndelag Teater Trøndelag Teater is a large theater in the city of Trondheim, in Trøndelag county, Norway. Trøndelag Teater stages large-scale dance and musical performances. History Originally built in 1816, the theater is the oldest stage in Scandinavia ...

, where he remained until 1949. He has later worked 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 ...

, Edderkoppen,

Riksteatret Riksteatret (English: National Traveling Theater) is a Norwegian touring theatre. It was established by law in 1948. Its first performance was in Kirkenes in 1949, with Sigurd Christiansen's play ''En reise i natten''. The theatre plays on about ...

Fjernsynsteatret Fjernsynsteatret () was a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) that produced plays for television broadcasting. It opened in 1960 (after about a year of experimental operation) and operated until a major reorganisation of NRK o ...

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ()Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabløs. It opened in 19 ...

. He has had roles in plays by

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 ...

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 ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

, and musicals such as '' Zorba'' and ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

''. His best-known character though, was "Tevye" in ''

'', a role Kolstad played 400 times. Kolstad also had various roles in movies and on television, and still took on occasional roles after his retirement. In 1958 he took part in the documentary ''

Windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts, however rigged. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam during the 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary records t ...

'' about the

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing ship, sailing vessel with a sail plan of three or more mast (sailing), masts, all of them square rig, square-rigged. Such a vessel is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged, with each mas ...

Christian Radich ''Christian Radich'' is a Norwegian full-rigged ship, named after a Norwegian shipowner. The vessel was built at Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway, and was delivered on 17 June 1937. The owner was The Christian Radich Sail Training Founda ...

. He played the title role in the television series ''Skipper Worse'' (1968), based on the novel by

Alexander Kielland Alexander Lange Kielland (; 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called " The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson an ...

, and was a

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

in the American movie ''

The Island at the Top of the World ''The Island at the Top of the World'' is a 1974 American live-action lost world fantasy adventure film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Winston Hibler. It was released by Walt Disney Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Distribu ...

'' (1974). Kolstad was married to the actress Bab Christensen; they lived in Oslo and had one child. His older brother

Henki ''Henki'' is a 2021 collaborative album by the English singer-songwriter Richard Dawson and the Finnish experimental rock group Circle. The album has seven songs that are all related to the life of plants and trees. The title, according to Circle' ...

, who died in 2008, was also a well-known actor. His other older brother,

Knut Knut ( Norwegian and Swedish), Knud ( Danish), or Knútur ( Icelandic) is a Scandinavian and German first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used which ...

, was a politician.

Select filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolstad, Lasse 1922 births 2012 deaths Norwegian male singers Norwegian male film actors Norwegian male television actors Norwegian male stage actors Male actors from Oslo