Lars "Lasse" Kolstad (10 January 1922 – 14 January 2012) was a Norwegian actor and singer. Active from the 1940s, he was known from many stage roles, but primarily as "

Tevye Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman ( yi, טבֿיה דער מילכיקער, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and various adaptations of th ...

" in ''

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 the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

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

russ Russ is a masculine given name, often a short form of Russell, and also a surname. People Given name or nickname * Russ Abbot (born 1947), British musician, comedian and actor * Russ Adams (born 1980), American retired baseball player * Russ B ...

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

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. As this was in 1940, the

German occupation of Norway 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 ...

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

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

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

Centralteatret Centralteatret ( en, Central Theater) is a theatre on Akersgata in the city centre of Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western ...

, Edderkoppen,

Riksteatret Riksteatret (English: National Traveling Theater) is a Norwegian touring theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or ima ...

Fjernsynsteatret Fjernsynsteatret was a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) which produced plays for television broadcasting. It opened in 1960 (after about a year of experimental operation), and operated until 1990, when a major reorganisati ...

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ( en, Norwegian Theater)Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabl� ...

. He has had roles in plays by

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

, and musicals such as '' Zorba'' and ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

''. His best-known character though, was "Tevye" in ''

'', a role Kolstad played 400 times. Kolstad also had various roles in movies and on television, and still took on occasional roles after his retirement. In 1958 he took part in the documentary ''

Windjammer A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...

'' about the

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three se ...

Christian Radich ''Christian Radich'' is a Norwegian full-rigged ship, named after a Norwegian shipowner. The vessel was built at Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway, and was delivered on 17 June 1937. The owner was The Christian Radich Sail Training Foundati ...

. He played the title role in the television series ''Skipper Worse'' (1968), based on the novel by

Alexander Kielland Alexander Lange Kielland (; 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called "The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and ...

, and was a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in the American movie ''

The Island at the Top of the World ''The Island at the Top of the World'' is a 1974 American live-action lost world fantasy adventure film directed by Robert Stevenson (director), Robert Stevenson and produced by Winston Hibler. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney ...

'' (1974). Kolstad was married to the actress

Bab Christensen Barbra Karine "Bab" Christensen (8 January 1928 – 10 April 2017) was a Norwegian actress. She was born in Kristiania as a daughter of actors Gerda Ring and Halfdan Christensen and younger sister of actor Pelle Christensen. She made her stage d ...

; they lived in Oslo and had one child. His older brother

Henki ''Henki'' is a 2021 collaborative album by the English singer-songwriter Richard Dawson and the Finnish experimental rock group Circle. The album has seven songs that are all related to the life of plants and trees. The title, according to Circle' ...

, who died in 2008, was also a well-known actor. His other older brother,

Knut Knut (Norwegian language, Norwegian and Swedish language, Swedish), Knud (Danish language, Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German language, German, and Dutch language, Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. ...

, was a politician.

Select filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolstad, Lasse 1922 births 2012 deaths Norwegian male singers Norwegian male film actors Norwegian male television actors Norwegian male stage actors Male actors from Oslo