Harald Schwenzen (18 May 1895 – 16 April 1954) was a Norwegian actor and director. Born in Glücksberg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, he relocated to Norway where he made his stage debut at

Nationaltheatret The National Theatre in Oslo ( no, Nationaltheatret) is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts. History The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiani ...

in 1918, and played for this theatre for many years. Schwenzen was known for playing lead roles such as ''Don Carlos'' and ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed ''Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on wh ...

''. He made his debut as a film actor in 1920 in

Victor Sjöström Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

Hjalmar Bergman Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus Bergman (19 September 1883 in Örebro, Sweden – 1 January 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swedish writer and playwright. Biography The son of a banker in Örebro, Bergman briefly studied philosophy at Uppsala Univers ...

's ''Mästerman''. Schwenzen was script writer and director for the 1922 film adaption of

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

's '' Pan''. In 1929, he played a leading role as a lawyer Sadolin in the Norwegian film Laila. He chaired the

Norwegian Actors' Equity Association The Norwegian Actors' Equity Association ( no, Norsk Skuespillerforbund) is an association of Norwegian actors. Its main purpose is to improve actors' working conditions and to protect the artistic, judicial and financial interests of actors in N ...

during the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, and was arrested and sent to

Grini Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway. Concentration camp The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area. History The name ...

and

Sachsenhausen Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

concentration camps. After his release and the end of the war, he continued appearing on Norwegian stages and in films. In 1948, Schwenzen played the role of the German general von Falkenhorst in the '' Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water''. Schwenzen was awarded the

King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

in gold in 1951. He died in Oslo in 1954.

Filmography

Actor

Director

Gallery

Harald Schwensen in Don Carlos.jpg, Schwenzen in ''Don Carlos'' Harald Schwenzen as Peer Gynt.jpg, Schwenzen as ''

'' Tore Segelcke and Harald Schwenzen in Gaten og huset.jpg, Schwenzen and

Tore Segelcke Tore Dyveke Segelcke (23 April 1901 – 22 September 1979) was a Norwegian actress. Biography Tore Løkkeberg was born at Fredrikstad in Østfold, Norway. Her parents were Georg Løkkeberg (1872–1951) and Hulda Marie Hansen (1878–1941). She w ...

in ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having bee ...

'' Harald Stammann Fries Schwenzen.jpg, Schwenzen c. 1930–1935

References

External links

* 1895 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Norwegian male actors Grini concentration camp survivors {{norway-actor-stub Norwegian male film actors Norwegian male silent film actors Norwegian male stage actors Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors German emigrants to Norway Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold