Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Scandinavian Stars: Greta Nissen







I have a special place in my heart for Greta Nissen after creating a database for her collection held at the Emigrant Museum near Hamar, Norway. It's a small collection consisting of photographs, her painting and drawings, amusing letters from her WWII soldier brother, and other miscellaneous items.

Nissen is most famous in Hollywood for a role she hardly seen. She starred in the silent version of Howard Hughes film, Hell's Angels. When talkies came, Hughes reshot the film using then-unknown Jean Harlow.

Like Sonja Henie, she too studied ballet reportedly having performed for Norway's Queen Maud at age 6.

She made her American film debut in 1925. Her silent films were usually successful. She starred with Adolph Menjou and worked with director Raoul Walsh. Hell's Angel's could have made her a bigger star but with the advent of sound, her Norwegian accent was considered a liablity.

Greta would begin studying English to improve her accent. She made talkies and the quick British films but never found that breakthrough role. Nevertheless she continued to have fans from all over the States, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Britain, and Norway, her birth country.
After her retirement, she lived with her industrialist husband in California until her death.

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