Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Scandinavian Film Stars: Sigrid Gurie


Sigrid Gurie is another Norwegian-American actress of many talents. Born Sigrid Guri Haukelid, she was born in Brooklyn, the twin sister of Knut Haukelid, a celebrated war hero leading the Norwegian Resistance in World War II whose leadership was depicted in the 1965 movie, "The Heroes of Telemark."

Her family returned to Norway when she was under a year old. Sigrid was educated in Norway, Sweden, and Belgium. While studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, she was spotted by an agent for Samuel Goldwyn at an art show. Goldwyn billed her as "The Siren of the Fjords." Yet this Nordic Siren's first roles were a Chinese in The Adventures of Marco Polo and an Algerian in Algiers.

Even though she had returned to Norway as an infant, Gurie's star waned when the press leaked she was born in Brooklyn. She continued to make films until 1948. That year she attended Kann Institute of Art studying oils and portraiture. A portrait of Sigrid's step-daughter, Lynda Abbott, once hung in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Its current whereabouts are unknown.

While living in the cobblestoned colonial city of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, throughout the 1960s until her death, she continued painting and designing jewelry for the Royal Copenhagen in Denmark. She died in Mexico.

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