Sigrid Marie Elisabeth Neiiendam née Andersen (1868–1955) was a Danish actress who played some 200 parts at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first ser ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. She is remembered in particular for her interpretations of

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

's plays.

Early life

Born on 31 May 1868 in

Gedved Gedved is a small town with a population of 2,430 (1 January 2023),Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

, she was the daughter of school principal Johan Henrik Andersen and his wife Sophie Frederikke Rasmussen. She spent her childhood on the island of

Møn Møn () is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingbo ...

where her father headed

Rødkilde Højskole Rødkilde Højskole is a folk high school just south of Stege on the Danish island of Møn. Founded in 1866, it is one of the older folk high schools in Denmark. Renamed Teaterhøjskolen Rødkilde (Theatre High School Rødkilde), it now offers bot ...

. In her book ''Sigrid Neiiendam fortæller'', published in 1943, she remembers how she started to imitate the many different people who visited the school, providing a basis for her theatrical work. In 1888, she passed the entrance examination to the Royal Theatre's drama school. She studied under actor

Olaf Poulsen Olaf Poulsen (26 April 1849 – 26 March 1923) was perhaps the best-known Danish comedic stage actor of his time. He was famous for playing such roles as Nick Bottom in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and Falstaff, among others for the Royal Danish ...

and theatre director William Bloch.

Acting career

In 1893 she moved to Dagmarteatret where she performed in Johanne in Leth Hansen's ''Ungdomsleg''. After spending time with her father as he traveled throughout Denmark, in 1900 she was engaged by J. F. Dorph-Petersen of

Folketeatret Folketeateret is a theatre in Oslo, Norway. The building has been used as a movie theatre and as an opera house. The theatre has 1,400 seats. History The theatre itself operated from 1952 to 1959, but the institution has a much longer history. ...

where she acted in a number of modern plays by

Gustav Wied Gustav Johannes Wied (6 March 1858 – 24 October 1914) was a Danish writer. He was generally known as a satire, satirical critic of society in his time and he deliberately used his writing talents to expose the establishment, bourgeoisie an ...

, Hjalmar Bergstrøm, Emma Gad and Palle Rosenkrantz. She was described as playing a "wonderfully lively and uncontrollably amusing" Trine in Ellen Reumert's ''Tvillingerne''. In July 1901, she married the theatrical historian Robert Neiiendam (1880–1966). In 1911,

Karl Mantzius Karl Mantzius (20 February 1860 – 17 May 1921) was a Danish actor, stage and film director, theatre scholar, and operatic baritone. Life and career Mantzius was born in Copenhagen, the son of the actor Kristian Mantzius. At first he played sm ...

called her back to the Royal Theatre where she remained until 1942, playing almost 200 different roles, 24 of them in plays by Holberg including Magdelone in ''Den Stundesløse'', Gedske Klokkers in ''Barselstuen'' and Nille in ''

Erasmus Montanus ''Erasmus Montanus'' is a satirical play about academic snobbery set in rural Denmark. Written by Ludvig Holberg in 1722, the script was first published in 1731 and performed in 1747. Today, it is among Holberg's most frequently performed works. ...

''. She was skilled at imitating dialects, often playing women from Jutland. The theatre critic Frederik Schyberg ascribed her success in the history of Danish drama to two factors: enchanting her Copenhagen audiences by introducing a new dimension in playing rural characters; and the way in which she "more than any of our contemporaries contributed to bringing out Holberg's lively characters". Neiiendam was also successful in films, including ''

Vredens Dag ''Day of Wrath'' ( da, Vredens dag) is a 1943 Danish drama film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and starring Lisbeth Movin, Thorkild Roose and Preben Lerdorff Rye. It is an adaptation of the 1909 play '' Anne Pedersdotter'' by Hans Wiers-Jenssen ...

'' (1943) and ''Fra den gamle Købmandsgård'' (1951). Sigrid Neiiendam died on 25 January 1955 in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

Awards

Neiiendam was awarded the Ingenio et Arti medal in 1922 and a Tagea Brandt scholarship in 1941. In 1952, she received a Bodil as best supporting actress in ''Fra den gamle Købmandsgård''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neiiendam, Sigrid 1868 births 1955 deaths People from Horsens Municipality 19th-century Danish actresses Danish stage actresses 20th-century Danish actresses Recipients of Ingenio et Arti Best Supporting Actress Bodil Award winners