Martha Hedman (August 12, 1883 – June 20, 1974) was a Swedish-American stage actress popular on the Broadway stage.

Biography

She was born to Johan Hedman and Ingrid Kempe in

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

, in

Jämtland County Jämtland County ( sv, Jämtlands län, ) is a county or '' län'' in the middle of Sweden consisting of the provinces of Jämtland and Härjedalen, along with minor parts of Hälsingland and Ångermanland, plus two small uninhabited strips of ...

, Sweden. She studied for the stage under the tutelage of

Siri von Essen Sigrid "Siri" Sofia Matilda Elisabet von Essen (17 August 1850 – 21 April 1912) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish noblewoman and actress. Her acting career spanned about 15 years, during which time she appeared in a number of plays that the Sw ...

the wife of playwright and novelist,

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

. She first appeared on the stage in February 1905 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland in a

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

fairy tale. For the next six years appeared in Sweden, Finland and Germany in plays by

William 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 ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He recei ...

and

Ludwig Fulda Ludwig Anton Salomon Fulda (July 7, 1862 – March 7, 1939) was a German playwright and poet, with a strong social commitment. He lived with Moritz Moszkowski's first wife Henriette, née Chaminade, younger sister of pianist and composer Cécile ...

. In 1912 theatrical producer

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

brought Hedman to America and she shared the stage with John Drew. She appears in several of Charles Frohman's productions. In 1915, she appeared in ''The Trap'' produced by

Arthur Hammerstein Arthur Hammerstein (December 21, 1872 – October 12, 1955) was an American songwriter, dramatist, playwright and theater manager. Biography Born and educated to a Jewish family in New York City, Hammerstein was the son of the theater impresari ...

. One of her more notable performance was in the 1915-1916 comedy ''The Boomerang'', produced by

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

. In 1921 she appeared in a big Shakespearean pageant on Broadway with several other top actresses of the period. She retired from the theater in 1922 but came back in 1942 for one play ''The First Crocus''. She appeared in one film ''

The Cub ''The Cub'' is an extant 1915 silent film drama produced by William A. Brady and directed by Maurice Tourneur. The film is based on a 1910 Broadway play, ''The Cub'' by Thompson Buchanan, also produced by Brady. This marks the only time stage ac ...

'' directed by

Maurice Tourneur Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...

in 1915. Most likely she cared not for the experience and did not return to pictures. Hedman in her youth however was famous on the stage. This is more the reason modern audiences have never heard of her in contrast to fellow Swedish born actresses like

Anna Q. Nilsson Anna Quirentia Nilsson (March 30, 1888 – February 11, 1974) was a Swedish-American actress who achieved success in American silent movies. Early life Nilsson was born in Ystad, Sweden in 1888. Her middle name Quirentia is derived from her ...

and

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, ...

(whom she met in 1956) who both had lengthy film careers. During the first year of her career as an actress, she had toured with German-born actor Emile von der Osten (1848–1905). She had a daughter with von der Osten, Ella Alfrida (born on August 30, 1904 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden - died January 17, 2000

Georgetown, South Carolina Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, South Carolina, Georgetown County, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census ...

). Hedman was later married to Henry Arthur House with whom she co-wrote a play ''What's the Big Idea'' in 1926. Martha Hedman wrote a book ''Uncle, Aunt and Jezabel'' (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York: 1949). The dedication reads: "To Henry Arthur -the winter of our discontent was turned into glorious summer". She subsequently wrote ''Mathias and Mathilda'' (Chapman & Hall. 1951) written under the name, Martha Hedman House. Her sister was London actress Marguerite Leslie (1884 - 1958).''The Green Book Magazine'', Volume 15 page 321 c.1916; "London's Loveliest Leading Lady Goes Into "The Movies".." by Ada Patterson
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hedman, Martha 1883 births 1974 deaths People from Östersund 20th-century Swedish actresses Swedish stage actresses Swedish film actresses Swedish emigrants to the United States American stage actresses 20th-century American actresses American women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American women writers