1. [29], Not to be confused with American basketball player, After the war, Henie was mindful that many of her countrymen considered her to be a, 1936 European Figure Skating Championships, "Cecilia Colledge: Champion figure skater", "AFI's 100 Years 100 Stars America's Greatest Legends", "Nektet pne festspill hvis Flagstad skulle synge", "International Women's Sports Hall of Fame", "Sonja Henie Joins 508th Regt. When live television began to cut into the film industry, Henie stopped making movies and returned to traveling ice shows. first pair of ice skates when she was six. Sporting News (February 14, 1994): S21. Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: Sports Figures. From the Archives: Don Ameche, Dapper Film Star, Dies at 85, From the Archives: Andy Warhol, Pioneer of 60s Pop Art, Dies, From the Archives: Jazz Great Thelonious Monk Dies, From the Archives: Armand Hammer Dies; Billionaire, Art Patron, From the Archives: Buster Crabbe, Athlete, Hero of Serials, Dies. Henie, already a precocious skier and swimmer, cried until her parents bought her a . Surely she exceeded nearly everyone's expectations when she was rated as the third most popular film star of 1938, surpassed by only Shirley Temple and Clark Gable. Her mother was willing to travel all across Europe with her to find coaches and outdoor ice rinks. She announced then that she was turning professional, and toured the United States in an ice show. Her husband did not trust French doctors, so he flew her unconscious body to Dr Moe in Oslo. Encyclopedia.com. I want to do with skates what Fred Astaire is doing with dancing. Encyclopedia.com. Sports Illustrated (February 14, 1994): 18. For a time she had her own company, Sonja Henie's Hollywood Ice Revue, but an unfortunate bleacher collapse at one of her shows caused the venture to fold. She'd parlayed 10 world championships and three Olympic gold medals into an enormously. Henie's sense of drama, athletic perfection, and graceful, balletic performances wrought a permanent change in figure skating and paved the way for today's skating superstars. The pretty, blond skater stood out among the competitors in a white silk and ermine skating dress that had a short skirt. Henie's autobiography, written with Janet Owen, is Wings on My Feet (1940). She said her greatest hope was to become a movie star, and she soon did. Sonja Henie was born on April 8, 1912 in Oslo, Norway. As a child, Henie enjoyed advantages that greatly contributed to her success as a skater. 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. Jimmy Sutton (Tyrone Power), the press agent sent to Bergen to fetch her, at first treats her merely as Entry No. While improving her skating, in the next few years, she also studied ballet with a former teacher of Anna Pavlova, and eventually she combined the two forms on ice. She married Onstad that same yearby which time her film career was largely behind herand embarked on an avocation of art collecting which resulted in one of the finest collections of paintings in Hollywood. "Tonya-no! Her husband, Neils Onstad, a Norwegian shipowner, said she "just slept away" halfway through the two-hour flight. She already had considerable experience as an exhibition skater, having been a soloist for the New York Skating Club's production Land of the Midnight Sun at Madison Square Garden in 1930. Later programs included her famous hula sketch. At the time of her death, Henie was planning a comeback for a television special that would have aired in January 1970. Her skating built on the innovative styles of Jackson Haines and Hilda Holowsky. [citation needed], Henie became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1940. She did not die from her leukemia; but she died of a hemorrhage caused by change in air pressure in the jet flying from Paris to Oslo. She was 57. She was a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in Ladies' Singles, a ten-time World Champion (1927-1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931-1936). Colledge, Cecilia. Skating Champion. [13] Henie incorporated dance elements into her figure skating, through the placement of spins, jumps, and choreography to reflect the mood of the music she used. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. An excellent book that devotes much attention to Henie in the context of the development of skating is Nigel Brown, Ice-Skating: A History (1959). (June 6, 1956 - October 12, 1969) (her death), (September 15, 1949 - May 14, 1956) (divorced), (July 4, 1940 - February 13, 1946) (divorced), View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. Rap singer Later in 1927 Henie saw the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova dance in London. Henie-Onstad museum. Zanuck first cast Henie in One in a Million (1936), which also starred Don Ameche, Adolphe Menjou, and the Ritz Brothers. (Getty Images) I saw a tweet this week from Kiira Korpi, the Finnish figure skater who won medals three times at the European Championships . Wirtz also acted as Henie's financial advisor. Already exposed to Norway's favorite sport, skiing, Henie preferred figure skating; she loved the "whirling" sensation of ice-skating and the resulting "sense of power" over distance and gravity. Adolf Hitler greeting Sonja Henie at a rink in Munich six weeks after the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she won a third straight women's singles title. Her name and appearance was shown in episode 285 of MASH 4077. Henie married Daniel Reid Topping, an American sports investor from Greenwich, Connecticut, on 4 July 1940; they divorced in 1946. Date of Death: October 12, 1969. In 1940 the pair offered the ballet-on-ice Les Sylphides, which was so successful that they began to produce reviews throughout the year at the Center Theatre in New York City. Memorial ID. In the mid-1970s, American figure skater Dorothy Hamill was the leader in her field, capping her success, Skating She managed to tie together the elements in her routine in way that had not been done before. The family also fully appreciated Henie's interest in sports. During a week in Cleveland, she would skate for more than 62,000 fans. Henie has won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. A little "meowing" before Ms. Henie takes the ice. She had already delighted in dancing, and--with her brother Leif giving her her first lessons--enjoyed Henie kept her Hollywood home in Holmby Hills and enjoyed her Grundholtet villa in Norway and apartment in Lausanne, Switzerland. John Axe, Collectible Sonja Henie (1979), includes covers and programs of some of the revues, in addition to brief text and photographs of dolls and skates. The daughter of a fur wholesaler in Norway, Sonja Henie received her first pair of ice skates when she was six. For this, she was condemned by many Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans. Where did sonja henie live in the us? - Answers The early start was seen as a disadvantage, with the audience not yet whipped into a clapping frenzy and the judges known to become freer with their higher marks as the event proceeded. 1949. At the height of the Great Depression she had become an international star with enough clout that she could announce that she planned to be in motion pictures. She studied in Oslo together with Martin Stixrud and Erna Andersen who was her competitor and skate club member.[17]. Topping. Sun Valley Serenade (1941), with John Payne and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, received three Academy Award nominations for best cinematography, best music, and best song ("Chattanooga Choo Choo"), but her two releases in 1942 and 1943 marked the end of her contract with Twentieth CenturyFox. In addition to traveling to train and compete, she was much in demand as a performer at figure skating exhibitions in both Europe and North America. In 1940 she married millionaire-sportsman Dan Topping, from whom she was divorced in 1946. Four thoughts about Sonja Henie " I skated with Sonja, and wrote the first biography after her death. Mitt livs eventyr, Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1938. [on studio publicity promoting what was an imaginary romance with Tyrone Power] We had to consult the gossip columns every day to see if we were still in love or not. April 08, 1912 Died October 12, 1969 Cause of Death Leukemia Biography Read More Winner of the Olympic Gold medal in figure skating an impressive three times in a row (1928, 1932, 1936), Henie came to Twentieth Century-Fox shortly after her last win and was built up as a popular star. She also lit the entire performance with a dazzling, dimpled smile. At age 10 she won the Norwegian national figure-skating championship, and in 1924 she competed in the Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France. 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. Henie is credited with transforming an originally demure, predictable activity by infusing it with her feminine charms and passion for the ballet. Less than a month later, she was married to a childhood friend, Niels Onstad, who had become a shipping magnate and art collector. plummeted when a photo of her with Adolphe Hitler was published. She was showcased in the Hollywood Ice Revue, which began in 1938 and continued for twelve years in cities across the United States. Copy. However, she held off these competitors and went on to win her third Olympic title at the 1936 Winter Olympics, albeit in very controversial circumstances with Cecilia Colledge finishing a very close second. In 1936, following a successful ice show in Los Angeles orchestrated by her father to launch her film career, Hollywood studio chief Darryl Zanuck signed her to a long-term contract at Twentieth Century Fox, which made her one of the highest-paid actresses of the time. How did Sonja Henie the ice Star die? Sonja Henie (1912-1969) - Find a Grave Memorial Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 10 time World Champion Women's Figure Skating according to A&E Griffin saw Henie as person intent on reaching her professional goals and little else. The intensity of Henie's commitment to skating was further intensified after competing in the first winter Olympics, in Chamonix, France, in 1924. 436. Only when she learns the real author of the notes does Trudi realize that her heart has been bent, not broken. Wintertime: Directed by John Brahm. Henie, Sonja (1912-1969) Norwegian figure skater who won three consecutive gold medals and became a movie box-office attraction surpassed in her day only by Shirley Temple and Clark Gable. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sonja-Henie, Sonja Henie - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Honorary Colonel and Godmother of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, For a time, Sonja Henie's picture adorned the tail of a, This page was last edited on 23 April 2023, at 13:57. When Geoffrey and Ken track Norden to a small village in the Swiss Alps, they soon find themselves competing over the affections of beautiful Louise (Henie), who has a deeper connection to the missing Nobel laureate than the reporters realize. During her lifetime Sonja Henie reigned as the "queen of ice," and today she remains the most influential individual to have been part of figure skating. The international star had managed to keep her illness a secret and was seen with her husband at an Oslo theater less than two weeks before her death. From 1937 to 1945 she was one of the leading box-office attractions in the film industry. During World War 2 her connections to the Nazis caused a From its ninth-century, Northern European origins as a means for hunting and traveling on ice, skating has been explored for its leisure poss, Rapper, actor, social commentator Sonja Henie | American athlete | Britannica Sonja Henie's skating partner cut swath in PR world Her jumps and spins seem ridiculously easy compared to the athletic feats of contemporary figure skaters. Henie also insisted on having total control of the skating numbers in her films such as Second Fiddle (1939). Public interest in Henie has fueled continued debate about her off-ice and off-screen behavior. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sonja-henie, "Sonja Henie Paris and London were mentioned, but only Hello London (1958) was made with her own backing, co-starring Michael Wilding and special guest star Stanley Holloway. Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. [citation needed]. 27 Apr. Sonja Henie Death Fact Check, Birthday & Date of Death - Dead or Kicking Onstad transformed her art collecting interest from traditional masters to contemporary works; they donated 250 paintings and millions of dollars to Norway and in 1968 completed the Henie-Onstad Museum near Oslo to house the collection and, after Henie's death, her career memorabilia. 27 Apr. "Henie, Sonja Henie initially showed talent at skiing, then followed her older brother, Leif, to take up figure skating. At 11 she won the national championshipand also entered her first Olympics, in which she placed last. 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. With her sunny personality and obvious love of skating, Henie popularized the sport and served as a role model for American skating hopefuls of both sexes, including Dick Button, Tenley Albright (the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal), and Carol Heiss. Her last film, Hello London (1958), received only limited showings in parts of England. Far from being discouraged, the youngster poured all her energies into skating. . Henie would make eleven films in Hollywood, with the first six being the most successful. As a result, none of Henie's properties in Norway were confiscated or damaged by the Germans. [2], Kestnbaum argues that although Henie's skating was "athletic and powerful for her day",[2] she purposively added elements,such as using the toepicks of her skates to run or pose on the ice, in movements similar to the use of pointe technique in ballet, that undercut her power and athleticism.