Gunn WÃ¥llgren (born Gunnel Margaret Haraldsdotter WÃ¥llgren
[vÉ"lÉ¡reË n];[stress/tone?] 16 November 1913 â€" 4 June 1983) was a
Swedish actress.Considered one of Sweden's finest and also to date
most appreciated actresses, WÃ¥llgren was famous for her fragile and
sensual way of acting, her warm and rich inner soulfulness, and her
never failing ability of presenting an absolute presence and
naturalness on stage. Her Chekhov and Ibsen character interpretations,
in particular, are considered to be unsurpassed.Born and raised in
Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest town, Gunn WÃ¥llgren played a lot
of amateur theatre in local groups in her teenage years. She knew very
early that she wanted to become an actress although her father; the
stern company manager Harald WÃ¥llgren, strongly disapproved: To get
the theatre ideas out of her head, he even sent her overseas on a trip
to Switzerland. However, the acting dreams only increased as she
strolled by the coast of Lake Constance and had only gotten worse by
the time she returned. Carrying a tremendous personal shyness and
insecurity (which came to define and restrict her private persona all
her life) she secretly applied for the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting
school in Stockholm (in 1934) â€" and was admitted on first try, at
age 21.Gunn WÃ¥llgren's first major role at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
as "premiere actress" became the playful daughter Mildred in Eugene
O'Neill's beautiful play Ah, Wilderness! (a very successful and
long-running production) in 1936. Winning the critics' and the
audience's heart in her part she received an immediate contract with
the Royal Dramatic Theatre after her graduation from drama school in
1937. Even though she came to work at different theatres all her life,
she always returned to the national stage. Some master performances by
Wållgren on stage include her Sorel Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever
in 1937, Celia in Shakespeare's As You Like It 1938 (directed by Alf
Sjöberg), the strong portrayal of Curley's wife in the original
Swedish staging of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in 1940, Iphigenia
in Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris 1941, her Ophelia in the classic 1942
staging of Hamlet (opposite Lars Hanson in the title role), Mary
Grey/Joan of Arc in Joan of Lorraine by Maxwell Anderson in 1948,
Catherine Sloper in The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz in the
1950/51 season, Indra's daughter in the Olof Molander-staging of
Strindberg's A Dream Play 1955, Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull 1955,
Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters 1958, Isabella in Shakespeare's
Measure for Measure 1958, Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House 1962, Gerda
in Strindberg's Storm 1964, Mrs. Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts 196?, the
grand portrayal of Madame Liubov Andreievna Ranevskaya in The Cherry
Orchard by Chekhov in 1967, Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace in
1970, the title role of Agnes in Kent Andersson's 1972 play, Lena in
Fugard's Boesman and Lena 1977; and the role of Ethel Thayer in Sista
sommaren (play based on the Oscar-winning film On Golden Pond,
starring Katharine Hepburn in the same part) in 1981.
[vÉ"lÉ¡reË n];[stress/tone?] 16 November 1913 â€" 4 June 1983) was a
Swedish actress.Considered one of Sweden's finest and also to date
most appreciated actresses, WÃ¥llgren was famous for her fragile and
sensual way of acting, her warm and rich inner soulfulness, and her
never failing ability of presenting an absolute presence and
naturalness on stage. Her Chekhov and Ibsen character interpretations,
in particular, are considered to be unsurpassed.Born and raised in
Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest town, Gunn WÃ¥llgren played a lot
of amateur theatre in local groups in her teenage years. She knew very
early that she wanted to become an actress although her father; the
stern company manager Harald WÃ¥llgren, strongly disapproved: To get
the theatre ideas out of her head, he even sent her overseas on a trip
to Switzerland. However, the acting dreams only increased as she
strolled by the coast of Lake Constance and had only gotten worse by
the time she returned. Carrying a tremendous personal shyness and
insecurity (which came to define and restrict her private persona all
her life) she secretly applied for the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting
school in Stockholm (in 1934) â€" and was admitted on first try, at
age 21.Gunn WÃ¥llgren's first major role at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
as "premiere actress" became the playful daughter Mildred in Eugene
O'Neill's beautiful play Ah, Wilderness! (a very successful and
long-running production) in 1936. Winning the critics' and the
audience's heart in her part she received an immediate contract with
the Royal Dramatic Theatre after her graduation from drama school in
1937. Even though she came to work at different theatres all her life,
she always returned to the national stage. Some master performances by
Wållgren on stage include her Sorel Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever
in 1937, Celia in Shakespeare's As You Like It 1938 (directed by Alf
Sjöberg), the strong portrayal of Curley's wife in the original
Swedish staging of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in 1940, Iphigenia
in Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris 1941, her Ophelia in the classic 1942
staging of Hamlet (opposite Lars Hanson in the title role), Mary
Grey/Joan of Arc in Joan of Lorraine by Maxwell Anderson in 1948,
Catherine Sloper in The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz in the
1950/51 season, Indra's daughter in the Olof Molander-staging of
Strindberg's A Dream Play 1955, Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull 1955,
Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters 1958, Isabella in Shakespeare's
Measure for Measure 1958, Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House 1962, Gerda
in Strindberg's Storm 1964, Mrs. Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts 196?, the
grand portrayal of Madame Liubov Andreievna Ranevskaya in The Cherry
Orchard by Chekhov in 1967, Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace in
1970, the title role of Agnes in Kent Andersson's 1972 play, Lena in
Fugard's Boesman and Lena 1977; and the role of Ethel Thayer in Sista
sommaren (play based on the Oscar-winning film On Golden Pond,
starring Katharine Hepburn in the same part) in 1981.
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