Toralv Maurstad (24 November 1926 – 4 November 2022) was a Norwegian stage, film, and television actor. He was the son of actor Alfred Maurstad and actress Tordis Maurstad (née Witzøe), and half-brother of actress

Mari Maurstad Mari Maurstad (born 17 March 1957) is a Norwegian actress. She debuted at Nationaltheatret (the National Theatre) in 1981, and has worked there since. Here she has had roles such as Polly in Brecht's ''The Threepenny Opera'', and Mrs. Sørby in ...

. His screen debut came in the 1937 film '' Fant'', which starred his father Alfred. Maurstad graduated from the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

(RADA) in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1949. Through the years he not only worked as a leading actor but was also a respected stage director, and was the head of Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) from 1967 to 1978. He was also head of Norway's National Theatre

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 Christia ...

from 1978 to 1986. Maurstad was considered perhaps the greatest interpreter of Henrik Ibsen's '' Peer Gynt'', having played the part numerous times (he even performed excerpts from the play as late as the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

). Maurstad's only American film appearance was the 1970 box office and critical disappointment ''

Song of Norway ''Song of Norway'' is an operetta written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus and Homer Curran. A very loose film adaptation with major changes to both the book ...

'', a musical about the life of composer

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

co-starring

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

. It was based on the 1944 Broadway musical. A testament to his position in Norwegian theatre came when in the 1970s he co-starred with Liv Ullmann in a critically acclaimed Broadway-staging of Ibsen's ''

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 be ...

'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 1974 the King of Norway made him a Knight, First Class of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

and in March 2007, Maurstad was appointed a Commander of the Order of St. Olav.

Personal life and death

Maurstad's first wife was the Swedish actress Eva Henning. They had two sons: Peder Maurstad and Momse Maurstad (who died at six months). He then married Anne-Ma Burum. He married his third wife, actress Beate Eriksen, on New Year's Eve 1999, when she was 39 and he was 73. In 2001, Eriksen's application for adopting a child was rejected because Maurstad was considered to be too old. According to Norwegian rules, people who intend to adopt a child should be between 25 and 45, and Maurstad was 74. Maurstad died on 4 November 2022, at the age of 95.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maurstad, Toralv 1926 births 2022 deaths Norwegian male stage actors Norwegian male film actors Norwegian theatre directors People from Bærum Norwegian male television actors Order of Saint Olav Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 20th-century Norwegian male actors 21st-century Norwegian male actors