Martha Hedman (August 12, 1883 â€" June 20, 1974) was a
Swedish-American stage actress popular on the Broadway stage.She was
born to Johan Hedman and Ingrid Kempe in Östersund, in Jämtland
County, Sweden. She studied for the stage under the tutelage of Siri
von Essen the wife of playwright and novelist, August Strindberg. She
first appeared on the stage in February 1905 in Helsinki, Finland in a
Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. For the next six years appeared in
Sweden, Finland and Germany in plays by William Shakespeare, Leo
Tolstoy, Gerhart Hauptmann and Ludwig Fulda.In 1912 theatrical
producer Charles Frohman brought Hedman to America and she acted with
such luminaries as John Drew. She appears in several of Charles
Frohman's productions. In 1915, she appeared in The Trap produced by
Arthur Hammerstein. One of her more notable performance was in the
1915-1916 comedy The Boomerang, produced by David Belasco. In 1921 she
appeared in a big Shakespearean pageant on Broadway with several other
top actresses of the period. She retired from the theater in 1922 but
came back in 1942 for one play The First Crocus.She appeared in one
film The Cub directed by Maurice Tourneur in 1915. Most likely she
cared not for the experience and did not return to pictures. Hedman in
her youth however was famous on the stage. This is more the reason
modern audiences have never heard of her in contrast to fellow Swedish
born actresses like Anna Q. Nilsson and Greta Garbo (whom she met in
1956) who both had lengthy film careers.
Swedish-American stage actress popular on the Broadway stage.She was
born to Johan Hedman and Ingrid Kempe in Östersund, in Jämtland
County, Sweden. She studied for the stage under the tutelage of Siri
von Essen the wife of playwright and novelist, August Strindberg. She
first appeared on the stage in February 1905 in Helsinki, Finland in a
Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. For the next six years appeared in
Sweden, Finland and Germany in plays by William Shakespeare, Leo
Tolstoy, Gerhart Hauptmann and Ludwig Fulda.In 1912 theatrical
producer Charles Frohman brought Hedman to America and she acted with
such luminaries as John Drew. She appears in several of Charles
Frohman's productions. In 1915, she appeared in The Trap produced by
Arthur Hammerstein. One of her more notable performance was in the
1915-1916 comedy The Boomerang, produced by David Belasco. In 1921 she
appeared in a big Shakespearean pageant on Broadway with several other
top actresses of the period. She retired from the theater in 1922 but
came back in 1942 for one play The First Crocus.She appeared in one
film The Cub directed by Maurice Tourneur in 1915. Most likely she
cared not for the experience and did not return to pictures. Hedman in
her youth however was famous on the stage. This is more the reason
modern audiences have never heard of her in contrast to fellow Swedish
born actresses like Anna Q. Nilsson and Greta Garbo (whom she met in
1956) who both had lengthy film careers.
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