Elin Hulda Maria Tompuri, known as Elli (20 January 1880,

Vehkalahti Vehkalahti () is a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality surrounding the town of Hamina in south-eastern Finland. At the beginning of 2003 Hamina and Vehkalahti combined to form a new town of Hamina. History These souther ...

– 4 February 1962,

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) was a Finnish actress, director, dancer and author.

Biography

Her parents, Jooseppi and Anna Maria were farmers. From 1898, she was a student at the Läroverket för gossar och flickor in Helsinki. In 1900, after a brief period at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

, she became an acting trainee, under the direction of

Kaarlo Bergbom Kaarlo Bergbom (2 October 1843, Viipuri – 17 January 1906, Helsinki) was a Finnish theatre director. He was also the founder of the Finnish National Theatre, the first Finnish language theatre company. He was joint director of the Finnish ...

, at what is now the

Finnish National Theatre The Finnish National Theatre (), established in 1872, is a theatre located in central Helsinki on the northern side of the Helsinki Central Railway Station Square. The Finnish National Theatre is the oldest Finnish speaking professional thea ...

. She was also engaged at the

Swedish Theatre The Swedish Theatre () is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja () square, at the end of Esplanadi (). It was the first national stage of Finland. History The first theatre in Helsinki, '' Engels Te ...

from 1903 to 1904, and was a director at the

Tampere Theatre The Tampere Theatre () is one of the two main active theatres in Tampere, Finland, along with the Tampere Workers' Theatre. The theatre was started in 1904 and the opening ceremony was held in 1913. The main location of the Tampere Theatre is lo ...

from 1905 to 1906. Her breakthrough came at the National Theatre in 1905, when she played the title role in ''

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

'' by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

. Her other notable roles were in '' Anna-Liisa'', by

Minna Canth Minna Canth (; born Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson; 19 March 1844 – 12 May 1897) was a Finnish writer and social activist. Canth began to write while managing her family draper's shop and living as a widow raising seven children. Her work address ...

, and as Nora in ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish language, Danish and ; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act Play (theatre), play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 De ...

'', by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

. From 1908 to 1910, she appeared in Berlin, at the Lessing Theatre. When she returned to Finland, she worked as a free agent and formed her own theatrical troupe. Once, she played the title role in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

''. From 1910 to 1919, she was married to the bank manager, . They had two sons; , a Professor of Economics, and Kaarlo, a farmer who served in the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

from 1966 to 1970. In 1919, together with the artist, Yrjö Ollila, she created the "Vapaa Näyttämö" (Free Stage), which would be devoted to supporting the newer playwrights, but it went bankrupt in a year. In the 1930s, she became known as the "punaisena diivana" (Red Diva) for performing works by writers who had been banned in Germany. This earned her the attention of the Central Police. She was generally considered to be rather eccentric, but served as an inspiration for several poets, such as

Eino Leino Eino Leino (born Armas Einar Leopold Lönnbohm; 6 July 1878 – 10 January 1926) was a Finnish poet and journalist who is considered one of the pioneers of Finnish poetry and a national poet of Finland. His poems combine modern and Finnish fo ...

and

Bertel Gripenberg ''Bertel'' Johan Sebastian, Baron Gripenberg, born 19 September 1878 in Saint Petersburg, died 6 May 1947, was a Finland-Swedish poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature fourteen times. Career His early poetry was inspired by f ...

. In the 1940s and 50s, she wrote eight volumes of memoirs. She was awarded the "Pro-Finlandia Medal" of the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

in 1961.

Selected works

* ''Voices from Finland: an anthology of Finland's verse and prose in English, Finnish and Swedish'', edited by Elli Tompuri. Helsinki: Sanoma, 1947 * ''Etu- ja taka- ja syrjähyppyjä: muistelmia Arkadiasta Kansalliseen'', (Front and rear and side jumps: memoirs from Arcadia to National), WSOY, 1952 * ''Myrskylinnun tie: Elli Tompurin muistelemaa'' {Stormbird Road: Remembered by Elli Tompuri), Ritva Heikkilä and Marianna Laurson (Eds.), WSOY, 1980

External links

* Nina-Katariina Tienhaara
Kun esitystaiteesta tulee poliittista – Elli Tompurista ja valkovenäläisestä underground-kollektiivista
(When Performing Becomes Political), Thesis,

Turku University of Applied Sciences Turku University of Applied Sciences (abbr. ''TUAS'', Finnish ''Turun ammattikorkeakoulu'') is a multidisciplinary higher education institution in the city of Turku and Salo in Southwest Finland. The institute began operations as a temporary po ...

, 2011 *Helka Mäkinen
Elli Tompuri – Uusi nainen ja punainen diiva
(The New Woman and the Red Diva), dissertation,

Helsinki University Press The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Tsar Al ...

, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tompuri, Elli 1880 births 1962 deaths Finnish actresses Finnish theatre directors Finnish women theatre directors Finnish memoirists People from Hamina