Johnny Odd Bergh (May 6, 1934 – December 23, 2014) was a Norwegian producer, scriptwriter and director. He was a key player in the development of Norwegian television, and one of the most influential people in Norwegian entertainment until the mid 90s.

Biography

Bergh started his career as a jazz musician and comedy actor in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, and studied acting at the

Norwegian National Academy of Theatre The Oslo National Academy of the Arts ( no, Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, ''KHiO'') is a university college in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts. It is one of two public institutes of higher learning in N ...

. In 1958 he was recruited to the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

- two years before regular television broadcasts started in Norway - as employee number 12. After just a few years he became a prominent director and producer. As one of the first TV workers in Norway, Bergh worked for the first years with everything from the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

and the news to theatre and large studio shows. It was however entertainment that would become his speciality. During his career he produced several thousand TV programs. The shows went on to become benchmark productions for Norwegian entertainment, and many want on for many seasons, some still being in production. Programs include: '' Lørdagskveld med Erik Bye'' (talkshow), ''

Kontrapunkt Edition Kontrapunkt (the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and also German word for counterpoint) is a Danish classical music record label based in Klampenborg and founded in 1987. The label is owned by Steeplechase Records, the Danish jazz label.Gypsy Ja ...

'' (quiz show), '' Momarkedet'' (live variety show), '' Kvitt eller dobbelt'' (Norwegian version of ''

The $64,000 Question ''The $64,000 Question'' was an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Contestants answered general knowledge questions, earning money which doubled as the ...

''), '' Ta sjansen'' (annual event), '' Dette er ditt liv'' (Norwegian version of ''

This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

''), '' Nyttårsshow'' (variety show), '' OL-show'' (Olympic variety show),

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizati ...

(Norwegian music awards) and

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It dete ...

(Eurovision Song Contest). He was the responsible national producer for the Nordic collaborative

Nordvision Nordvision is a cooperative venture, established in 1959, between five Nordic public service broadcasters: Denmark's DR, Norway's NRK, Iceland's RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Servi ...

broadcasts in the early days of Norwegian television. Bergh also directed concerts with international artists such as

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

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and

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. From 1986 til 1990 Bergh was the editorial director at the NRK's entertainment department. Bergh had a close professional and personal relationship with TV hosts like

Erik Bye Erik Erikssønn Bye (March 1, 1926 – October 13, 2004) was a versatile Norwegian-American journalist, artist, author, film actor, folk singer and radio and television personality. He was one of the 20th century's most well-known and popular ra ...

, Knut Bjørnsen,

Erik Diesen Erik Tangevald Diesen (8 October 1922 – 13 September 1999) was a Norwegian revue writer and radio and television personality. Personal life He was a son of Thorstein Diesen, Jr. (1894–1962) and Ragna Marie Tangevald (1891–1945), grandne ...

and

Harald Tusberg Harald Tusberg (born 6 April 1935 in Bergen) is a Norwegian former television personality. He was host of many Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation programs, including the Norwegian version of '' This Is Your Life'' () and the Eurovision Song Cont ...

, and produced and developed several shows with all of them. He gave Norwegian entertainment personalities like

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and Stein Roger Bull their first jobs in television and launched

Dan Børge Akerø Dan Børge Akerø (born 23 January 1951) is a Norwegian television personality. He took his education at the University of Oslo, graduating with a cand.mag. degree. From 1975 to 1980 he worked as a research assistant and research fellow at the In ...

as an entertainment name. He also got to work with international artists like

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

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Johnny Weissmuller Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. H ...

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and

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. Bergh won six times in

Rose D'Or The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakesi ...

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

with different comedy shows. Among these prize winning productions are ''

To Norway, Home of Giants To Norway, Home of Giants ( no, For Norge, Kiæmpers Fødeland) was the Norway, Norwegian contribution to the 1979 Rose d'Or in Montreux, where it won two prizes. The short comedy film was directed by Johnny Bergh and Bjørn Sand. The script was w ...

'', starring

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

, which won two awards. Productions by Johnny Bergh got over 30% of the places when the Norwegian paper

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

awarded the best Norwegian TV entertainment ever in 2010. Bergh has had a strong influence as a role model, mentor and creator of TV as a visual medium. He was the first in Norway who could tell a story with living images on TV. Through his work he created a school for producing that made the foundation of the professional level of production in Norway today.

Personal life

Bergh was married to the TV producer Bitte Monn-Iversen, daughter of composer and producer

Egil Monn-Iversen Egil Ragnar Monn-Iversen (14 April 1928 – 7 July 2017) was a Norwegian musician, one of the most influential modern composers in Norway. He has had many important roles in Norwegian music, film, opera, television, comedy and theater. For so ...

and singer, comedian and actor

Sølvi Wang Sølvi Valborg Wang (28 August 1929 – 31 May 2011) was a Norwegian singer, actress and comedian. She was born in Bærum, Akershus, to the jazz musician Yngvar Wang and the singer Marie Gulbrandsen. Already at an early age she sang with ...

, and died on December 23, 2014 at the age of 80.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergh, Johnny 1934 births 2014 deaths People from Nordhordland Norwegian jazz musicians Norwegian television directors Norwegian television producers Norwegian television writers NRK people