Lulu Ziegler
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Karen Margrete Maria (Lulu) Ziegler (18 April 1903 – 14 November 1973) was a Danish actress, singer 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 ...
who was active in both Denmark and Sweden. She gained fame as a
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
singer in the 1930s, enchanting her audiences in her own expressive style. In 1942, after attracting anti-German support at her cabaret in central Copenhagen, she was forced to flee to Sweden where she continued her highly popular anti-Nazi performances in
revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...
s. After the war, she returned to Denmark where she was welcomed as a heroine. When her popularity waned in the 1950s, she returned to Sweden, performing in the cabaret restaurant Hamburger Börs. There she directed shows with performances including
Lars Forssell Lars Hans Carl Abraham Forssell (14 January 192826 July 2007) was a Swedish writer and member of the Swedish Academy. Forssell was a versatile writer who worked within many genres, including poetry, drama and songwriting. He was awarded the Bell ...
's increasingly popular
chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...
s. She later devoted her skills to theatre management, directing shows in
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
and
Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...
where she staged the musical ''
Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
'' in 1968.


Early life and education

Born on 18 April 1903 in
Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025).
, Margrete Maria Ziegler-Andersen was the daughter of the dentists Axel Johan Ziegler-Andersen (1875–1960) and Johanne Margrethe Veistrup (1873–1960). In October 1926, she married the representative Hugo Lorenz Jensen; the marriage was dissolved in 1936. In December 1936, she married the stage director Per Thor Brockdorff Knutzon (1897–1948). In September 1950, she married the Norwegian director Kristian Carsten Lindqvist. She had two children: Anne Jensen (1935) and
Lars Knutzon Lars Knutzon (born 1 October 1941) is a Danish actor and director, best known to international audiences for his role as Bent Sejrø in the Danish TV drama '' Borgen''. He is the son of actor, director and theatre director Per Knutzon and cabare ...
(1941). Lulu Ziegler was raised in a comfortable middle-class environment in Sorø together with her younger sister Aase (1906–1975) who also became an actress. After matriculating from high school in 1921, she moved to Copenhagen where she began to study English and singing at the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...
. She was nevertheless attracted by the stage, first performing in a student production in 1926. She gave up her university studies and in the late 1930s turned to acting, becoming a pupil of
Svend Methling Svend Methling (1 October 1891 – 4 June 1977) was a Danish actor and film director. He was a director for Dansk Skolescene 1924–1929, for Folkescenen 1925 and for Komediehuset 1929–1930. He also worked as a director at the Det Ny ...
at
Det Ny Teater Det Ny Teater (English: The New Theatre) is an established theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, first opened in 1908. It is based in a building which spans a passage between Vesterbrogade and Gammel Kongevej in Copenhagen's theatre district on the borde ...
.


Career

It was at Det Ny Teater that she made her debut in 1930 as Jenny in
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
's musical play '' Laser og pjalter''. While on a visit to Berlin, she became a personal friend of Brecht. When he fled to Denmark from Nazi Germany in 1934, he lived for a period in her home. For a few seasons she was attached to the Betty Nansen Theatre but never made any real headway. It was only when she met her second husband Per Knutzon that she began to receive attention. On his recommendation, in 1933 she impressed her audience at the Riddersalen Theatre as she sang alone on the stage. One reviewer welcomed her striking performance, describing her as "A fully-fledged artist in her field". When Knutzon became the theatre's director, she performed in revues interpreting texts by
Poul Henningsen Poul Henningsen (9 September 1894 – 31 January 1967) was a Danish author, critic, architect, and designer. In Denmark, where he often is referred to simply as PH, he was one of the leading figures of the cultural life of Denmark between the Wor ...
. In 1938, she moved to Paris where she sang in a cabaret in the Latin quarter. On moving back to Copenhagen. she opened her own "Lulu Ziegler Cabaret" on
Kongens Nytorv Kongens Nytorv (literal translation, lit. "The King's New Square") is a town square, public square in Copenhagen, Denmark, centrally located at the end of the Pedestrian zone, pedestrian street Strøget. The largest square of the city, it was l ...
. There she managed to attract full houses as she developed a reputation of resistance during the German occupation. When threatened with arrest, she escaped to Sweden in a rowing boat in 1942, together with her husband, Per Knutzon, and her two small children. In Sweden, she quickly established herself, performing in revues in Stockholm arranged by the anti-Nazi director
Karl Gerhard Karl Emil Georg Gerhard (born Karl Emil Georg Johnson; 14 April 1891 – 22 April 1964) was a Swedish theater director, revue writer and actor. In 1938 he changed his surname to Gerhard and used the pseudonym Karl-Gerhard. Biography Karl ...
and the less politically motivated
Kar de Mumma Erik Harald Zetterström (14 August 1904 – 7 July 1997), better known by his screen name Kar de Mumma, was a Swedish humorous writer and playwright. His pen name can be read as Car da Mon in Swedish. In the 1920s and 1930s, he wrote man ...
. She reported she had appeared in over 700 performances. Between revues, she toured the country and sang in public parks. After the end of the
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, Ziegler returned to Denmark where she was welcomed as a heroine and a former resistance worker. Her songs and the related recordings gained popularity, especially her own theme song "Ved Kajen" (On the Quayside) and, in 1948, her "Den sidste turist i Europa" (The Last Tourist in Europe), lyrics by Mogens Dam, music by Henrik Blichmann. But as time moved on, the Danes grew tired of their war heroes and her popularity suffered. As a result, she moved back to Sweden where she became hugely successful at the Hamburger Börs Restaurant, often appearing alone on the stage but also acting as a show director for other performers. In particular, Forssell's chansons such as "Jag står här på ett torg" (I'm Here in the Square) and "Säg vad ni vill" (Say What You Want) gained popularity there. Ziegler spent the last years of her career touring the Nordic countries but ultimately devoted her time to directing theatre productions, especially at the
Gothenburg City Theatre Gothenburg City Theatre () opened in 1934 at Götaplatsen square in Gothenburg, Sweden. The theatre was designed by Swedish architect Carl Bergsten who gave the exterior a Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical look with a touch of Streamline ...
in Sweden and at the
Odense Teater Odense Teater is a theater in the city of Odense in Denmark. It dates back to 1796, which makes it Denmark's second-oldest theater. It is one of the country's three main theaters. The venue is located in Jernbanegade, where it has three stages: ...
, where she staged the first Danish performance of the musical ''Cabaret''. Lulu Ziegler died in Copenhagen on 14 November 1973, aged 70.


Filmography


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Lulu 1903 births 1973 deaths People from Sorø Municipality Danish stage actresses Danish film actresses 20th-century Danish actresses Danish theatre directors 20th-century Danish women singers