Odd Horn Grythe (14 November 1918 – 7 February 1995) was a Norwegian radio and television personality.

Personal life

He was born in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

as a son of a travelling salesman. He had four older siblings. From 1955 to 1958 he was married to Kirsten Sørlie. In March 1962 he married Ada Haug. With his first wife he had the daughter Hilde Grythe, who married

Terje Tønnesen Terje Tønnesen (born 27 February 1955 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian classical violinist. His first marriage, from 1979 to 1986, was to the pianist Reidun Askeland (born 1957). In 1986 he married the actress Hilde Grythe (born 18 July 1955) ...

Career

He finished his secondary education in his hometown, and then moved to

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 ...

. He worked different office jobs, and also for a short time 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 ...

. During the Second World War he was a part of the

Norwegian resistance movement The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the German occupation of Norway, occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *As ...

in Lillehammer. He was arrested on 23 March 1945 and was imprisoned in

Grini concentration camp Grini prison camp (, ) was a Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, Norway, which operated between 1941 and May 1945. Ila Detention and Security Prison is now located here. History Grini was originally built as a women's prison, near an old croft ...

from 13 April 1945 until the war's end. After the war, Grythe was a journalist and subeditor in ''

Dagningen ''Dagningen'' was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Lillehammer in Oppland county. History and profile ''Dagningen'' was started in 1924. The paper was affiliated with the Labour Party. It had its headquarters in Lillehammer. In 1997 the pape ...

'' from 1946 to 1950. He was also a city council member for the Labour Party. He worked in ''Lillehammer og omlands tiltaksråd'' from 1950 to 1953, and from 1953 to 1959 as a film producing assistant and producer. In 1959 he was hired as program secretary in

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

radio. On 20 August 1960 he hosted the first show after the official opening of

Norwegian television Television in Norway was introduced in 1954, but the first television program was only shown in 1958, and regular broadcasts did not start until 1960. Like Denmark, Norway had only one television channel until the 1980s. Some 40% of the populat ...

, ''Startskuddet går''. He hosted the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norsk Melodi Grand Prix, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been sta ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

(with

Erik Diesen Erik Tangevald Diesen (8 October 1922 – 13 September 1999) was a Norwegian revue writer and radio and television personality. Personal life Born in Kristiania on 8 October 1922, Diesen was a son of Thorstein Diesen, Jr. (1894–1962) and ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

(with Erik Diesen),

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

. In 1961 he was officially transferred from the radio department to television, and from 1966 to 1971 he headed the information department. From October 1971 to his retirement in 1985 he hosted the show ''Husker du...'', an entertainment show for the elderly with

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 ...

performances, evergreens and musical numbers of the past. In 1979 he was awarded the second ''

Se og Hør ''Se og Hør'' (, ) / ''Se & Hör'' (; "See and Hear") is a TV guide and celebrity journalism magazine published in three independent versions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden by the Danish company Aller Media. The Danish version is the oldest. The ...

'' readers' TV personality of the year award. He also received the Humanist Prize from the

Norwegian Humanist Association The Norwegian Humanist Association (; HEF) is one of the largest secular humanist associations in the world, with over 130,000 members. Those members constitute 2.3% of the national population of 5.47 million, making HEF by far the largest such a ...

in 1989. Part of his qualifications for the job stemmed from him touring retirement homes and sanatoria with musical acts. He continued doing so after retiring from television. In 1988 he released his memoirs, ''Dette husker jeg...'' (a play on ''Husker du...''). He died in February 1995 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grythe, Odd 1918 births 1995 deaths People from Lillehammer Norwegian resistance members Grini concentration camp survivors Labour Party (Norway) politicians Oppland politicians Norwegian radio personalities Norwegian television presenters NRK people Norwegian humanists 20th-century Norwegian writers 20th-century Norwegian journalists 20th-century Norwegian memoirists