Lars Hanson
Encyclopedia
Lars Hanson was a Swedish film and stage actor
, internationally mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film
era.
as a Shakespearean actor, appearing in such classics as Othello
and Hamlet
. Hanson made his film debut in the 1915 film Dolken, directed by Mauritz Stiller, and his popularity as a leading man in his homeland grew with ensuing roles. He was a student of Dramatens elevskola
.
While already a well established popular actor in Sweden and much of continental Europe, Lars Hanson gained greater international recognition for his role as the title character in the 1923 Stiller film Gösta Berlings saga
(English: The Story of Gösta Berling), which featured a young Mauritz Stiller
protégé named Greta Garbo
in one of her first major appearances on screen as well as film stage actress Gerda Lundequist
. At the request of American actress Lillian Gish
, Hanson arrived in Hollywood, California in 1926 (the same year as Garbo) to star opposite Gish in the film version of The Scarlet Letter
directed by fellow countryman Victor Sjöström
.
In 1922, Lars Hanson married the ex-wife of influential director Gustaf Molander
, Swedish actress Karin Molander
. The couple remained married until Hanson's death in 1965.
Hanson's Hollywood career as an actor steadily grew momentum during the 1920s and he was paired with Greta Garbo in two more motion pictures; MGM's 1927 box-office hit Flesh and the Devil
, which also starred Garbo's offscreen lover, the successful film actor John Gilbert
, and 1928's The Divine Woman
, again directed Victor Sjöström. Sjöström also directed Hanson in a performance opposite Lillian Gish in The Wind
(1928). By the end of the 1920s however, the era of the silent film was waning, and seeing that his heavy Swedish accent might be a liability in American films, Lars Hanson returned to Europe.
Upon arriving back in Europe in 1928, Hanson starred in the aptly titled German film Heimkehr
(English: Homecoming) opposite Gustav Fröhlich
and Dita Parlo
.
Lars Hanson continued to appear in Swedish films until the early 1950s before retiring. Hanson's last performance was in the 1951 film Dårskapens hus (The Nuthouse).
In Sweden Hanson balanced his film work with an outstanding stage career, making memorable appearances in A Dream Play
(1935), The Ghost Sonata
(1942), and as James Tyrone in the world premiere of Eugene O'Neill
's Long Day's Journey into Night
(1956). In 1956, Hanson, along with actress Inga Tidblad (who played Mary Tyrone) also became the first two actors to receive The Eugene O'Neill Award; today known as Sweden's most prestigious theatre award and presented annually to the country's most outstanding stage actors. Hanson was also a successful Shakespearean actor, especially for his performances as Richard III
and Hamlet
.
Lars Hanson died in Stockholm, Sweden in 1965 after a short illness
at the age of 78.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, internationally mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era.
Biography
Born Lars Mauritz Hanson in Göteborg, Sweden, Hanson began his career on the stages of Sweden after studying drama in Helsinki, Finland and StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
as a Shakespearean actor, appearing in such classics as Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. Hanson made his film debut in the 1915 film Dolken, directed by Mauritz Stiller, and his popularity as a leading man in his homeland grew with ensuing roles. He was a student of Dramatens elevskola
Dramatens elevskola
Dramatens elevskola, i.e. Kungliga Dramatiska Teaterns Elevskola, or in Eng: The Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school, was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, The Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years seen as the foremost theatre school and drama education for Swedish stage actors...
.
While already a well established popular actor in Sweden and much of continental Europe, Lars Hanson gained greater international recognition for his role as the title character in the 1923 Stiller film Gösta Berlings saga
Gösta Berlings saga (film)
The Saga of Gosta Berling is a 1924 Swedish romantic drama film directed by Mauritz Stiller and released by AB Svensk Filmindustri, starring Lars Hanson, Gerda Lundequist and Greta Garbo in her native break-out role on film. The film is based on the 1891 debut novel of the same name by the Swedish...
(English: The Story of Gösta Berling), which featured a young Mauritz Stiller
Mauritz Stiller
Mauritz Stiller was a Finnish-Swedish actor, screenwriter and silent film director, who was mostly active in Sweden.-Life:...
protégé named Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
in one of her first major appearances on screen as well as film stage actress Gerda Lundequist
Gerda Lundequist
Gerda Carola Cecilia Lundequist was a Swedish stage actress, an Ibsen and Strindberg-thespian that in her time was known throughout Scandinavia as "The Swedish Sarah Bernhardt".-Career:...
. At the request of American actress Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
, Hanson arrived in Hollywood, California in 1926 (the same year as Garbo) to star opposite Gish in the film version of The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter (1926 film)
The Scarlet Letter is a 1926 drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. Louis B. Mayer was reluctant on using Miss Gish, fearing opposition from church groups. The film was announced as "It's a real 'A' picture", taking advantage of the 'A' for Adultery, and proved a box office success...
directed by fellow countryman Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström
Victor Sjöström was a Swedish actor, screenwriter, and film director.- Biography:Born in Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died when he was seven years old in 1886...
.
In 1922, Lars Hanson married the ex-wife of influential director Gustaf Molander
Gustaf Molander
Gustaf Harald August Molander was a Swedish actor and film director. His parents were the director Harald Molander, Sr. and the singer and actress Lydia Molander, née Wessler, and his brother was the director Olof Molander...
, Swedish actress Karin Molander
Karin Molander
Karin Molander was a Swedish stage and film actress whose career spanned over five decades.-Career:Born Katarina Margareta Elisabet Edwertz in Stockholm, Sweden, she began taking classes from theater actress Julia Håkansson at a young age...
. The couple remained married until Hanson's death in 1965.
Hanson's Hollywood career as an actor steadily grew momentum during the 1920s and he was paired with Greta Garbo in two more motion pictures; MGM's 1927 box-office hit Flesh and the Devil
Flesh and the Devil
Flesh and the Devil is an MGM romantic drama silent film. It stars Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, and Barbara Kent, directed by Clarence Brown, and based on the play The Undying Past by Hermann Sudermann....
, which also starred Garbo's offscreen lover, the successful film actor John Gilbert
John Gilbert (actor)
John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
, and 1928's The Divine Woman
The Divine Woman
The Divine Woman is an American silent film directed by Victor Sjöström and starring Greta Garbo. Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was Garbo's fifth Hollywood film. Only a single nine-minute reel is currently known to exist of this otherwise lost film...
, again directed Victor Sjöström. Sjöström also directed Hanson in a performance opposite Lillian Gish in The Wind
The Wind
The Wind is a 1928 American dramatic silent film directed by Victor Sjöström. The movie was adapted by Frances Marion from the novel The Wind written by Dorothy Scarborough. It features Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming, and others...
(1928). By the end of the 1920s however, the era of the silent film was waning, and seeing that his heavy Swedish accent might be a liability in American films, Lars Hanson returned to Europe.
Upon arriving back in Europe in 1928, Hanson starred in the aptly titled German film Heimkehr
Homecoming (1928 film)
Homecoming is a 1928 German film directed by Joe May.- Plot :Richard and Karl are German prisoners of war in Siberia. Since escape is almost impossible, they are unguarded and live an almost idyllic existence running a ferry...
(English: Homecoming) opposite Gustav Fröhlich
Gustav Fröhlich
Gustav Fröhlich was a German actor. He landed secondary roles in a number of films and plays before landing his breakthrough role of Freder Fredersen in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis.-Biography:...
and Dita Parlo
Dita Parlo
Dita Parlo was a German film actress.Born Grethe Gerda Kornstädt in Stettin , Parlo made her first film appearance in Homecoming in 1928 and quickly became a popular actress in Germany...
.
Lars Hanson continued to appear in Swedish films until the early 1950s before retiring. Hanson's last performance was in the 1951 film Dårskapens hus (The Nuthouse).
In Sweden Hanson balanced his film work with an outstanding stage career, making memorable appearances in A Dream Play
A Dream Play
A Dream Play was written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was first performed in Stockholm on 17 April 1907. It remains one of Strindberg's most admired and influential dramas, seen as an important precursor to both dramatic Expressionism and Surrealism.-Plot:The primary...
(1935), The Ghost Sonata
The Ghost Sonata
The Ghost Sonata is a play in three acts by Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in 1907, it was first produced at Strindberg's Intimate Theatre in Stockholm on January 21, 1908. Since then, it has been staged by such notable directors as Max Reinhardt, Olof Molander, Roger Blin, and...
(1942), and as James Tyrone in the world premiere of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's Long Day's Journey into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
(1956). In 1956, Hanson, along with actress Inga Tidblad (who played Mary Tyrone) also became the first two actors to receive The Eugene O'Neill Award; today known as Sweden's most prestigious theatre award and presented annually to the country's most outstanding stage actors. Hanson was also a successful Shakespearean actor, especially for his performances as Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
.
Lars Hanson died in Stockholm, Sweden in 1965 after a short illness
Illness
Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered another word for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist...
at the age of 78.
Selected filmography
- The WingsThe Wings (film)-Production background:The film was directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Egil Eide, Lars Hanson, Lili Bech, and Julius Hälsig, and was based on Herman Bang's 1902 novel Mikaël, which was the same source Carl Theodor Dreyer used for his 1924 film Michael....
(1916) - The Lass from the Stormy CroftThe Lass from the Stormy CroftThe Lass from the Stormy Croft is a 1917 Swedish drama film directed by Victor Sjöström, based on a 1913 novel by Selma Lagerlöf. It was the first in a series of successful Lagerlöf adaptions by Sjöström, made possible by a deal between Lagerlöf and A-B Svenska Biografteatern to adapt at least...
(1917) - ErotikonErotikonErotikon is a 1920 Swedish romantic comedy film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Tora Teje, Karin Molander, Anders de Wahl and Lars Hanson. It is based on the 1917 play A kék róka by Ferenc Herczeg...
(1920) - The Saga of Gosta Berling (1924)
- The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter (1926 film)The Scarlet Letter is a 1926 drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. Louis B. Mayer was reluctant on using Miss Gish, fearing opposition from church groups. The film was announced as "It's a real 'A' picture", taking advantage of the 'A' for Adultery, and proved a box office success...
(1926) - Flesh and the DevilFlesh and the DevilFlesh and the Devil is an MGM romantic drama silent film. It stars Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, and Barbara Kent, directed by Clarence Brown, and based on the play The Undying Past by Hermann Sudermann....
(1927) - The Divine WomanThe Divine WomanThe Divine Woman is an American silent film directed by Victor Sjöström and starring Greta Garbo. Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was Garbo's fifth Hollywood film. Only a single nine-minute reel is currently known to exist of this otherwise lost film...
(1928) - The WindThe WindThe Wind is a 1928 American dramatic silent film directed by Victor Sjöström. The movie was adapted by Frances Marion from the novel The Wind written by Dorothy Scarborough. It features Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming, and others...
(1928) - HeimkehrHomecoming (1928 film)Homecoming is a 1928 German film directed by Joe May.- Plot :Richard and Karl are German prisoners of war in Siberia. Since escape is almost impossible, they are unguarded and live an almost idyllic existence running a ferry...
(1928) - The InformerThe Informer (1929 film)The Informer is a 1929 British drama film directed by Arthur Robison and starring Lya De Putti, Lars Hanson, Warwick Ward and Carl Harbord. It was based on the novel The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty which was more famously adapted in the 1935 film The Informer...
(1929)