In 1968 Sonja was diagnosed with leukemia. A champion in her own day, she has become a legend in ours. Wilhelm Henie had been a one-time World Cycling Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at a young age. Three times the Olympic figure-skating champion, Miss Henie won most of the major world skating titles from 1927 to 1936, when she turned professional. Scott, Paula Pyzik "Henie, Sonja At 15 she would win the Olympic gold medal in 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. Sonja HENIE Biography, Olympic Medals, Records and Age Sonja Henie, (born April 8, 1912, Kristiania [now Oslo], Norwaydied October 12, 1969, in an airplane en route to Oslo), Norwegian-born American world champion figure skater and Olympic gold medalist who went on to achieve success as a professional ice-skater and as a motion-picture actress. 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. Henie is credited with transforming an originally demure, predictable activity by infusing it with her feminine charms and passion for the ballet. The band goes to Ellis Island to meet the girl and soon discovers that the refugee isn't a 10-year-old child, but a young woman, Karen Benson ( Sonja Henie ). It featured spectacular costumes and included waltz and hula dances. [14] Figure skating writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum credits Henie with transforming figure skating into what she calls "a spectacle of the skater's body" and for "shifting [the sport's] meanings firmly in the direction of femininity". 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. It was Selma Henie, he said, who ended her daughter's squabbles and made sure that things ran smoothly. Weatherly did not disclose his brother's cause of death as he paid emotional tribute alongside a throwback photo of himself and Will playing on the beach as children. She was showcased in the Hollywood Ice Revue, which began in 1938 and continued for twelve years in cities across the United States. The idea of an ice skating movie might seem quaint today, but Henie starred in a number of them, most notably One in a Million, the story of a skater's rise to Olympic glory, and Thin Ice. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. 1932 The daughter of a fur wholesaler in Norway, Sonja Henie received her first pair of ice skates when she was six. Encyclopedia of World Biography. ." She did try to make a film series at her own expense; a series that would serve as a travelogue to several cities. She finished last, but she didn't give up. (April 27, 2023). She entered her first Olympic Winter Games the next year, primarily for experience, and took third place in the free skating competition. After a twirl on the ice with her pupils, Trudi consents. In 1956, Sonja Henie married for the third time. Although later cleared of any responsibility for the accident, she did not stage any more arena- type shows. Selma had designed her daughter's above-the-knee skirt with heavy fur trim to give it fullness. 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. same year she married shipping magnate Niels Onstad. In the fall of 1968 Henie was diagnosed with leukemia. In 1936 she would included dazzling ice-skating routines which she choreographed herself. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. 1. Encyclopedia.com. A male cast member from the Hollywood Ice Review had warmer memories of Henie in a 1996 interview in Films in Review. In cooperation with promoter Wirtz, Henie honed her skills as a producer of ice shows as well as maintained her prowess as a skater. Bill Griffin described Henie as a perfectionist with a short fuse. After taking informal lessons at a local skating club, Henie won her first figure skating competition at age nine. Henie went on to win first of her three Olympic gold medals the following year, becoming one of the youngest figure skating Olympic champions. The film soon grossed $2 million and made Henie a household name. She died on October 12, 1969 at When the Nazis arrived to take over the house, they saw the picture and left quickly. While we were in Paris she suddenly became much worse and she was examined by a doctor, he said. 27 Apr. During her amateur skating career, she performed often in Germany and was a favorite of German audiences and of Hitler personally. A 2002 article in the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reflected Henie's impact in these shows, an accomplishment undimmed by the passing of sixty-four years. Hjordis Olsen, an amateur skater at a private club, drilled Henie in mastering the mandatory school figures. (b. Corrections? 10 time World Champion Women's Figure Skating according to A&E With her well-to-do father's backing, she studied ballet in London, and began applying choreography to her routines. won her first ice-skating competition. Second Fiddle displays Sonja [Henie] as Trudi Hovland, a schoolmarm of Bergen, Minn. who is called to Hollywood because her local swain has sent her photograph to Consolidated Pictures Corp., which has been looking high & low for just such a heroine. She was to have danced to "Lara's Theme" from Doctor Zhivago. Memorial ID. 1936 her father financed an extravagant ice show in Hollywood. 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. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. During the years that Henie won her world championships, the five-member judging panel was dominated by three Norwegians. Henie, Sonja (1912-1969) | Encyclopedia.com In 1927, at the tender age of 14, she won the first of ten consecutive world championships. Wiki User. Henie's connections with Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi officials made her the subject of controversy before, during, and after World War II. She https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sonja-henie, "Sonja Henie Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian Figure Skater, Dies at 84 - New York Times Dressed in a white velvet, bell-skirted dress designed by her mother, Henie won over Austria's Herma Planck-Szabo. 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. 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). Within a year of turning pro, Henie had earned in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. 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. Her union with American sports investor (and later owner of the New York Yankees) Daniel Reid Topping lasted from 1940 to 1946, likely a victim to her grueling film production and touring schedules. Henie did not have any children and became an active collector with her new husband. She became a household name for her excellence in figure skating, winning ten world championships, six European. Sonja Henie, blonde Norwegian figure skater who dominated the rink for a decade and then skated her way to a second fabulous career in films, died Sunday of leukemia. On a hilltop overlooking the Henie-Onstad Museum. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Moreover, her skating numbers were fantastic. Henie initially showed talent at skiing, then followed her older brother, Leif, to take up figure skating. 27 Apr. While Irina Slutskaya of Russia has held the record for most European titles among ladies' skaters since 2006, Henie still retains the record of most consecutive titles, sharing it with Katarina Witt of Eastern Germany/Germany (19831988). Throughout the 1940s, Henie and Wirtz produced lavish musical ice skating extravaganzas at Rockefeller Center's Center Theatre attracting millions of ticket buyers. Wintertime: Directed by John Brahm. She nevertheless had negotiated an impressive contract and was an immediate hit with audiences. Griffin saw Henie as person intent on reaching her professional goals and little else. Sonja Henie was born on April 8, 1912 and died on October 12, 1969. She defended her Olympic titles in 1932 and in 1936, and her world titles annually until 1936. [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. Her medal record consisted of Norwegian national championships from 1922 to 1934, 6 European titles (19311936), 10 world titles (192736), and 3 gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games of 1928, 1932, and 1936. She had to concentrate on her profession, and fulfill contracts, really from the age of nine on," he explained. Notable Sports Figures. Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. Though Metro-Goldwin-Mayer (MGM) had expressed interest in her after the 1936 Olympics, when she arrived in the United States Henie and her father planned a gala skating exhibition In the mid-1960s she developed leukemia and spent the rest of her life fighting the disease. Troubles in Henie's film career were not mirrored in her popularity as a live performer. In her autobiography, Wings on My Feet, Henie explained that the primary factor facilitating her being so "lucky" in achieving her skating goals was her family's wealth. 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. At 15 she would win the Olympic gold medal in Skating, a feat she would repeat in 1932 and 1936. Through the years, her shows and later art exhibitions drew the attention of such people as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and she met with them. Her mother accompanied her on all of her travels and her father would eventually leave his fur business responsibilities to his son in order to manage Henie's career. Henie's first love was dancing, and she began to study ballet at age four; the ballet element in her later skating, both as champion amateur and professional, was always evident. [7] She did not make the final list however. . Films in Review (July-August 1996): 60. Sonja Henie - IMDb In 1968, the Onstads donated 250 of their paintings, plus $3.5 million for a fan-shaped stone-and-glass museum near Oslo. Retrieved April 27, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/sports/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/henie-sonja. Sonja Henie Birthday and Date of Death. Although Trudi does no skating in her screen test, she makes the grade. Oscar Holte, the outstanding Norwegian skating coach, supervised much of her training in Oslo and at St. Moritz, Switzerland, as she prepared to enter the International Winter Sports Week at Chamonix, France; retroactively, this special "week" became an official part of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. She was strongly denounced in the Norwegian press for this. Miss Henie had a home in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, an apartment in Lausanne, Switzerland, and an estate overlooking the Oslo fjord. Jimmy Sutton (Tyrone Power), the press agent sent to Bergen to fetch her, at first treats her merely as Entry No. Henie was also successful in Hollywood. The 1936 European Figure Skating Championships also took place in Berlin and neither Henie, Colledge, nor Megan Taylor paid obeisance to Hitler. Wings On My Feet, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1940. She grew up in Norway and was a dominant presence on the ice for . 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. In December 1937 Henie was received into Norway's Knightly Order of St. Olaf. Her third and final marriage was to fellow Norwegian Niels Onstad, a shipping magnate, on 9 June 1956. Her father was a wealthy fur salesman and a former amateur cycling champion who encouraged his children to compete. 1968 Sonja was diagnosed with leukemia. As a result, none of Henie's properties in Norway were confiscated or damaged by the Germans. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sonja-Henie, Sonja Henie - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Sonja was 57 years old at the time of death. In 1940 Sonja married businessman Daniel Henie would make eleven films in Hollywood, with the first six being the most successful. She became a millionaire by 1940, an accomplishment that outstrips even the male athletes of her generation. She broke with her manager in 1951, and began producing shows on her own, but gave them up after a block of seats at a Baltimore armory collapsed before a show in March, 1952, injuring more than 250 people. Now I arrive at the Garden at 6:45 and I never stop until 11:10. Did Sonja Henie marry? She made seventeen performances in nine cities and earned phenomenal box office returns. 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. After the hotel opens, Nora's uncle faces financial ruin and her romance hits a snag in the form of . 2023
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