Lars Hjortsberg was a Swedish actor. He is often called the greatest male actor in his country in the 19th century; he and Emilie Högquist

Emilie Högquist

Emilie Sophie Högquist was a Swedish actress and the mistress of Oscar I of Sweden. She was a star of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the most celebrated dramatic Swedish primadonna of her time, called the Swedish Aspasia, and also famous for her love affairs...

 are the best known Swedish actors from the first half of that century.

Biography

Lars Hjortsberg's father Laurentius (Lars) was employed at the court and his mother Maria Lovisa Schützer as a singer at the Opera; of their six children, two sons and two daughters where employed at the theatre or the Opera, and two of them was to become famous; Hedda Hjortsberg

Hedda Hjortsberg

Hedda Hjortsberg was a Swedish ballerina who starred for the Royal Swedish Ballet. She was the sister of the Swedish actor Lars Hjortsberg.- Biography :...

 as a dancer, and Lars Hjortsberg as an actor.

Lars Hjortsberg was born in Stockholm

Stockholm

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...

, and first appeared as a child actor at the Royal Swedish Opera

Royal Swedish Opera

Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...

 in 1778, at the age of six, when he played an angel with a couple of lines at the celebration of the birth of the Crown Prince in Athalie. He was noticed by the theatrically interested king, Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III of Sweden

Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....

, who saw a great dramatic talent in him, and also hired him at the royal court as a so called garçon bleu, a common (non noble) page boy, reader and librarian. He was employed at the Opera in 1780, and appeared in a mute part as the brother of Cora in Cora och Alonzo by Naumann at the premier of the new Opera in 1782; in 1783–1785, he was a student of Caroline Frederikke Müller

Caroline Frederikke Müller

Caroline Frederikke Müller , also known as Caroline Walther, was a Danish and later naturalized Swedish singer , dancer and actor and principal of the theatre academy Dramatens elevskola...

, and from 1785, he was a student in the French Theatre of Bollhuset

Bollhuset

Bollhuset, also called ', ', and ' at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater building in the whole of Scandinavia. The name "" means "The Ball House", and it was built in 1627 for ball sports and used in...

 under Monvel, like other Swedish actors such as Fredrique Löwen

Fredrique Löwen

Fredrica Löf, also known as Fredrique Löwen was a Swedish stage actress...

, Maria Franck

Maria Franck

Maria Kristina Franck, later Ruckman, , was a Swedish actor, also known as Kristina Ruckman, who later also became principal of the theatre school Dramatens elevskola...

 and Inga Åberg

Inga Åberg

Inga Åberg was a Swedish actress and opera singer, one of the most popular and well known actors of her time in Sweden...

, and in 1787, he was a student in 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...

 and a member of its troupe, which performed for the king the same year.

When the Royal Dramatic Theatre

Royal Dramatic Theatre

The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....

 was founded in 1788, he was employed there, became a member of the board of directors and continued to be counted as one of the greatest talents there, a position he kept until his death. He continued to be employed at court until the death of the king; he accompanied king Gustav to Finland during the war in 1790, on his trip to Belgium in 1791, and read to him to amuse him at his death bed after the assassination. When the actors board of directors was replaced in 1803, the fame of Hjortsberg forced the directors, who were in general very strict with the actors, forced to tolerate him to criticize them. He quit his position at the theatre after the second strike of Ulrik Torsslow

Ulrik Torsslow

Olof Ulrik Torsslow , was a Swedish actor and theatre director. He is considered one of the most notable actors in his country's history...

 and Sara Torsslow

Sara Torsslow

Sara Fredrica Torsslow, née Strömstedt was a Swedish actor at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and one of the most popular and notable actors in Swedish history.- Biography :...

 in 1834, but he soon returned and gave his last performance in 1842. He died in Nyköping

Nyköping

Nyköping is a locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 32,427 inhabitants in 2005. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County.- History :...

.

Lars Hjortsberg was very appreciated in comedies, and one of his most popular roles were as Polycarpus in Kronfogdarne, a play in which he made a great success.

In 1793, the old building of Bollhuset was torn down, and the Royal Dramatic Theatre moved to the old palace Makalös

Makalös

Makalös was the colloquial name for the grand mansion, or palace, of the Swedish noble family de la Gardie...

, called the Arsenal Theatre. In 24 November 1825, the Arsenal Theatre burned down; the fire begun in the middle of the performance, and Lars Hjortsberg discovered it, went out on the stage, interrupted the play and informed the audience from the stage. The building was old and built in such a way, with narrow passages and only one exit, that could have led to many casualties; but Hjortsberg led the evacuation with such calmness and efficiency that no one was killed, which made him a hero in the eyes off the public, who greeted him with great applause at his next performance at the building at the Royal Swedish Opera, were the Royal Dramatic Theatre would now also be located.

Lars Hjortsbeg was the brother of the popular ballet dancer Hedda Hjortsberg

Hedda Hjortsberg

Hedda Hjortsberg was a Swedish ballerina who starred for the Royal Swedish Ballet. She was the sister of the Swedish actor Lars Hjortsberg.- Biography :...

; his brother, Magnus Hjortsberg, was also an actor, but never as well known as his brother ans sister. He married the dancer Sofia Katarina di Dosmo, daughter to an Italian employee of the royal stables, and became the father of Carl Edvard Hjortsberg, (1804–1857), also an actor at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (from 1826) and married to the noted actor Fanny Westerdahl

Fanny Westerdahl

Fanny Amalia Westerdahl, also Fanny Hjortsberg , was a Swedish stage actress, who performed from 1829 to 1862. She also participated in some opera performances...

.