At 15 she would win the Olympic gold medal in Skating, a feat she would repeat in 1932 and 1936. Rap singer In A petite, glamorous woman with a taste for luxury and a shrewd business sense, she was immensely successful next with a series of her own ice revues, and prospered as a motion picture star. In her later years she was noted as a collector and patron of modern art. For the rest of the war, all of her possessions were left untouched by the Nazis. And most importantly, she hired the best skaters and choreographers and paid them handsomely. Miss Henie had been suffering from. Henie also had great spinning ability. Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. Could it be Ms. Hart seems a little "chilly!" Please pardon the periodic visual/audio glitches; the source. 1. Henie was 5 years old, the story goes, when her older brother, Leif, got a pair of ice skates for his birthday. Sun Valley Serenade (1941), in which Henie appeared with John Payne and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, is memorable for its Academy Award nominations for best cinematography, best music, and best song. She had become an American citizen in 1941. Henie was drinking heavily at that time and could no longer keep up with the demands of touring, and this marked her retirement from skating. . After placing last in a field of eight, she increased her practice time to some seven hours a day. She was a three-time Olympic champion ( 1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927-1936) and a six-time European champion (1931-1936). A male cast member from the Hollywood Ice Review had warmer memories of Henie in a 1996 interview in Films in Review. "Ice Wars: The Prequel." She was the first Said to have had a keen business sense, she early acquired the nickname Little Miss Moneybags for her habit of prudent investments. At the time this was a brave departure from convention, and audiences loved it. decided to become a US citizen and supported the USO in their efforts. Miss Henie was an exacting star. . The intensity of Henie's commitment to skating was further intensified after competing in the first winter Olympics, in Chamonix, France, in 1924. All of her films So the skating star created her own ice show, Sonja Henie with Her 1952 Ice Revue. In 1936 Henie won her third and final gold medal at the fourth Winter Olympic Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, by earning 2,971.4 points. The couple moved The daughter of a fur wholesaler in Norway, Sonja Henie received her first pair of ice skates when she was six. Ted Scott ( John Payne) is a band pianist whose publicity manager decides that, for good press, the band should adopt a foreign refugee. Hjordis Olsen, an amateur skater at a private club, drilled Henie in mastering the mandatory school figures. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Unfortunately she had a serious drinking problem which eventually During her amateur skating career, she performed often in Germany and was a favorite of German audiences and of Hitler personally. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. She telegraphed her maid and told her to place a picture of her with Hitler, which he had autographed, in a prominent place in her house. Zanuck first cast Henie in One in a Million (1936), which also starred Don Ameche, Adolphe Menjou, and the Ritz Brothers. As Honorary Jumper", "Photo Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner EI-LNA", "Cheap flights to Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm Norwegian", "Sundance Film Review: 'Sonja: The White Swan', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonja_Henie&oldid=1151351901, Inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame (1982), In 1938, at age 25, she became the youngest person to be made a knight first class of. "Sonja Henie The signature of her ice skate blades adorns the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Norway's king and queen attended the funeral service. Encyclopedia.com. In addition to her film career at Fox from 1936 to 1943, Henie formed a business arrangement with Arthur Wirtz, who produced her touring ice shows under the name of "Hollywood Ice Revue". Henie's autobiography, written with Janet Owen, is Wings on My Feet (1940). About Sonja Henie. . She was 57 years old. NEW HOPE, PA. John R. Walsh, who toured professionally as the figure-skating partner of Olympic champion Sonja Henie, died Thursday from complications following a stroke. By today's standards, Henie's routines were almost ridiculously simple, her jumps far from spectacular. She remembered in the Sporting News how Henie had screamed at her after the 1933 World Championship competition, saying she was an unworthy opponent. OSLO, Oct. 12 (AP)--Sonja Henie, ice-skating queen and film star, died tonight on an ambulance plane flying from Paris to Oslo. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Other stories echo these allegations, although in a milder fashion. Her animated counterpart appeared in the Disney short, The Autograph Hound when Donald asked for her autograph. For emphasis on Henie's film career, see entries in David Shipman, The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years (1970; rev. During the latter part of her competitive career she was coached primarily by the American Howard Nicholson in London. I want to do with skates what Fred Astaire is doing with dancing. The draw for the free skating [then] came under suspicion after Henie landed the plum position of skating last, while Colledge had to perform second of the 26 competitors. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Private tutors were hired to educate her while she concentrated on her skating. Sonja became the ice-skating world "The World's First Ice Queen." Biography. Hulten charged that Henie was responsible for having her strip searched and detained on suspicion of smuggling jewels while traveling across the German border in 1935. In an era before television, these films were an introduction to skating for millions of American viewers. When she became a professional skater in 1936, she set her sights on movie stardom and quickly turned herself into a top box office draw. Dividing her remaining years between homes in Norway and the United States, Henie lived happily with her third husband, Niels Onstad. first pair of ice skates when she was six. At the time, she was only 11 years old and she had to punctuate her free skating routine with frequent visits to the sidelines to ask her coach what she should do next. Henie-Onstad museum. Now I arrive at the Garden at 6:45 and I never stop until 11:10. Within a month of her last amateur victory, Henie signed with promoter Arthur Wirtz to appear in a U.S. tour. Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. Henie wed American business executive Winthrop Gardiner Jr. in 1949; he divorced her in 1956 for "desertion and mental cruelty." "She went after me in every which way from that point on," said Hulten. Coached by Swedish Olympic medalist Gillis Grafstrm, she transformed a predictable series of colourless exercises into a spectacular and popular exhibition. Only when she learns the real author of the notes does Trudi realize that her heart has been bent, not broken. In a 1999 account for Newsweek, silver-medal holder Cecilia Colledge also remembered competing against Henie in the 1936 Olympic games. In 1956, Sonja Henie married for the third time. After her marriage to Mr. Onstad, a childhood sweetheart, in 1956, she became interested in modern art. Her last film, Hello London (1958), received only limited showings in parts of England. (Read Scott Hamiltons Britannica essay on "Training for Olympic Gold."). Her death in Los Angeles, California on October 12, 1969, robbed the skating world of one of its brightest stars. She appeared in the film Thin Ice and was rated in a Motion Picture Herald poll as the eighth most popular film star of the year. The collapse of a section of bleachers during a show in Baltimore, Maryland in 1952 compounded the tour's legal and financial woes. Actress: Sun Valley Serenade. Sonja is buried on a hilltop overlooking the Henie-Onstad museum. It set the pattern for the films to follow as a light musical comedy that included songs and skating. In 1927, at the tender age of 14, she won the first of ten consecutive world championships. ." Her first film, One In A Million with Adolphe Menjou, was a huge It was an open secret that, in spite of the strict amateurism requirements of the time, Wilhelm Henie demanded "expense money" for his daughter's skating appearances. Although later cleared of any responsibility for the accident, she did not stage any more arena- type shows. 1932 The daughter of a fur wholesaler in Norway, Sonja Henie received her first pair of ice skates when she was six. During her competitive career, Henie traveled widely and worked with a variety of foreign coaches. Her husband chartered a plane to convey her from Paris to Oslo to see her doctor, but she died onboard in her sleep. Ice-T appeared on the music scene in 1987 with a new style: gangster rap, which offers rhymes about crimea, ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. Henie is credited with many "firsts," including being the first international sports star, the first superstar among figure skaters, and the firstand still onlywoman to win three Olympic gold medals in figure skating. Henie characterized her skating as very dangerous, but others said that because she almost never fell she did not know how to do it without hurting herself. Towards the end of her career, she began to be strongly challenged by younger skaters including Cecilia Colledge, Megan Taylor, and Hedy Stenuf. success. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sonja-henie, "Sonja Henie Both of Henie's parents had given up their own pursuits in Norwayleaving Leif to run the fur businessin order to accompany Sonja on her travels and act as her managers. For this, she was condemned by many Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans. Sonja Henie Birthday and Date of Death. Encyclopedia of World Biography. A 1930 New York Times article dubbed Henie a "Pavlova on Ice" and stressed her athletic prowess. Released on 22 December 1939, it was banned in Nazi Germany. Her new goal was the 1927 world figure skating championship. After she complained to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, the guard was summoned to apologize for the incident. Kestnbaum states that although toe steps are used as "occassional couterpoints to the legato flow of skating movement", she argues that Henie might have overused these steps, calling them "mincing and ineffective". [citation needed], Henie is credited with being the first figure skater to use dance choreography, to adopt the short skirt in figure skating, and to wear white boots,[12] which deemphasized the heaviness of skates and produced a lighter and longer appearance of the skater's legs that was "a focal point for judges' and spectators' gaze". As a result, her 1939 salary was more than $250,000. [13], Her innovative skating techniques and glamorous demeanor transformed the sport permanently and confirmed its acceptance as a legitimate sport in the Winter Olympics. Encyclopedia.com. She was signed by 20th Century-Fox and debuted in One in a Million (1936), in which she played an ice skater. When live television began to cut into the film industry, Henie stopped making movies and returned to traveling ice shows. As a wealthy celebrity, she moved in the same social circles as royalty and heads of state and made Hitler's acquaintance as a matter of course. It was her only film shot in Technicolor, but it was not as huge at the box office as her other films and also proved her limitations as a dramatic actress in her only dramatic film. to be attended by top motion-picture stars and executives, including Twentieth CenturyFox's Darryl F. Zanuck, who signed Henie up for a first-time appearance on the American screen as a leading star. . Plot. Controversy appeared first when Henie greeted Hitler with a Nazi salute at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and after the Games she accepted an invitation to lunch with Hitler at his resort home in nearby Berchtesgaden, where Hitler presented Henie with an autographed photo with a lengthy inscription. As a result, none of Henie's properties in Norway were confiscated or damaged by the Germans. Sonja Henie made her Olympic debut at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924. Henie is credited with transforming an originally demure, predictable activity by infusing it with her feminine charms and passion for the ballet. Another measure of her worth is that in 1940 her legs were insured by Lloyds of London for $5,000 per week. Practicing as much as seven hours a day, she studied with teachers in Germany, England, Switzerland and Austria. When she returned the following year, she secured the women's national championship title and, as part of her record-making legacy, would come back the subsequent six years to retain that title.
Tn Restricted License Rules, Articles W