Lars "Lasse" Kolstad is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. Active since the 1940s, he is known from many roles, but primarily as "Tevye" in Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

. He is the brother of late actor Henki Kolstad

Henki Kolstad

Henki Kolstad was a Norwegian actor, considered one of country's best and most versatile actors. He had his theatrical debut at the age of 13, in 1928, for Nationaltheatret . Two years later he acted in his first movie, titled Eskimo...

.

As a secondary school student, Kolstad was president of the graduating class (russ

Russ

Russ is a participant in the traditional Norwegian upper secondary high school graduation ceremony known as russefeiring . Russ are easily recognized by their distinctive overalls and caps resembling student caps...

) council of his school, and eventually for all of Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

. As this was in 1940, the German occupation of Norway

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany

The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...

 put a damper on any great festivities that year. In 1943 he had his début at Trøndelag Teater

Trøndelag Teater

Trøndelag Teater is a large theater in the city of Trondheim, in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway.-Background:Trøndelag Teater stages large-scale dance and musical performances. Originally built in 1816, the theater is the oldest stage in Scandinavia in continuous use...

, where he remained until 1949. He has later worked at Centralteatret

Centralteatret

Centralteatret is a theatre in Akersgata, Oslo, Norway.Centralteatret was established by the Alma Isabella Bosse Fahlstrøm and Johan Peter Broust Fahlstrøm in 1897. From 1902, Harald Otto was the theater manager and owner. His son, Reidar Otto, subsequently ran it, while his son, Harald Otto...

, Edderkoppen, Riksteatret

Riksteatret

Riksteatret is a Norwegian touring theatre. It was established by law in 1948. Its first performance was in Kirkenes in 1949, with Sigurd Christiansen's play En reise i natten. The theatre plays on about 200 different stages throughout the country. Its first theatre director was Fritz von der...

, Fjernsynsteatret

Fjernsynsteatret

Fjernsynsteatret was a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation which produced plays for television broadcasting. It opened in 1960 , and operated until 1990, when a major reorganisation of NRK took place.Its first leader was Arild Brinchmann, who headed the theatre from its start...

 og Det Norske Teatret

Det Norske Teatret

Det Norske Teatret is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabløs. It opened in 1913, touring with two plays, Ervingen by Ivar Aasen and Rationelt Fjøsstell by Hulda Garborg...

. He has had roles in plays by Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

, Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 and Sophocles

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...

, and musicals such as Zorba and The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...

. His best-known character though, is "Tevye" in Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...

, a role he has played 400 times.

Kolstad has also had various roles in movies and on television, and still takes on occasional roles after his retirement. In 1958 he took part in the documentary Windjammer about the full rigged ship

Full rigged ship

A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig....

 Christian Radich. He played the title role in the television series Skipper Worse (1968), based on the novel by Alexander Kielland

Alexander Kielland

Alexander Lange Kielland was one of the most famous Norwegian realistic writers of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called "The Four Greats" in Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Jonas Lie.-Background:Born in Stavanger, Norway, he grew up in a rich...

, and was a Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 in the American movie The Island at the Top of the World (1974).

Kolstad is married to the actress Bab Christensen

Bab Christensen

Barbra Karine "Bab" Christensen is a Norwegian actress.She was born in Kristiania as a daughter of Gerda Ring and Halfdan Christensen and younger sister of Pelle Christensen...

; the two live in Oslo and have one child. His older brother Henki

Henki Kolstad

Henki Kolstad was a Norwegian actor, considered one of country's best and most versatile actors. He had his theatrical debut at the age of 13, in 1928, for Nationaltheatret . Two years later he acted in his first movie, titled Eskimo...

, who died in 2008, was also a well-known actor.

Select filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Dei svarte hestane Dei svarte hestane Dei svarte hestane is a 1951 Norwegian drama film directed by Hans Jacob Nilsen and Sigval Maartmann-Moe, based on a book by Tarjei Vesaas, and starring Hans Jacob Nilsen, Eva Sletto and Ottar Vicklund....	Peasant boy
1958	Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich	Himself
1961	Hans Nielsen Hauge	Constable Ole Nielsen
1961	Bussen Bussen (film) Bussen is a 1961 Norwegian comedy film, directed by Arne Skouen and starring Leif Juster, and a strikingly similar 1963 Danish comedy film directed by Finn Henriksen and starring Dirch Passer. The plot and script is essentially the same in both films . The Danish version is made suitable for a...	Lars
1968	Skipper Worse	Skipper Worse	TV
1973	Kanarifuglen	Chief of personnel
1974	The Island at the Top of the World	Erik
1974	Bortreist på ubestemt tid Bortreist på ubestemt tid Bortreist på ubestemt tid is a crime novel published in 1972 by the Norwegian writer Sigrun Krokvik. For this novel Krokvik was awarded the very first Riverton Prize in 1972, a prize which has since been awarded annually for the best literary crime product in Norwegian language. The novel was...	Martin
1975	Fru Inger til Østråt	Olav Skaktavl
1979	Olsenbanden og Dynamitt-Harry mot nye høyder	Roy
1981	Fleksnes fataliteter Fleksnes Fataliteter Fleksnes Fataliteter, better known by its shortened title Fleksnes, was a Norwegian television comedy series produced between 1972 and 2002, based on Galton and Simpson's scripts for the British series Hancock's Half Hour.-History:...	Chief of police	TV, 1 episode
1994	The julekalender The Julekalender The Julekalender was a Danish TV series that ran at Christmas 1991 . It was written and performed almost entirely by a trio of Danish comedy musicians called De Nattergale with financial and technical assistance from TV2, a Danish television company...	Narrator
1996	Sånt är livet	Norwegian priest
2003	Olsenbanden Junior går under vann	Rudolf Bollerud
2007	Kodenavn Hunter	Vice patrol	TV, 1 episode

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