Gísli Rúnar Jónsson (20 March 1953 – 28 July 2020) was an Icelandic actor, screenwriter and director.

Early years

Gísli was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in 1953 to parents Guðrún Valgerður Gísladóttir, a housewife and Jón Konráð Björnsson, a local business man. Gísli has three siblings.''Profile: Gísli Rúnar Jónsson'',

Stöð 2 Stöð 2, literally Station 2, was an Icelandic subscription television channel. Founded in 1986, it was the first privately owned television station in Iceland following the lifting of the state monopoly on television broadcasting. Sister chan ...

, broadcast 6. April 2010.

Career

Gísli is mostly known for his involvement with Icelandic comedies and sitcoms in the 1980s. He wrote and directed the sitcoms '' Heilsubælið í Gerfahverfi'' and '' Fastir liðir eins og Venjulega'', which become hugely successful in Iceland and have been played on reruns every few years for the last 30 years. In 1996 Gísli hosted his own talk show called ''Gott Kvöld með Gísla Rúnari'' (English: ''Good Evening with Gísli Rúnar'') on

. In addition to starring in numerous plays Gísli is also a vivid screenwriter and translator of foreign plays into Icelandic. To name a few of his translations are ''

Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors may refer to: * '' The Little Shop of Horrors'', a 1960 American film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (musical), a 1982 musical based on the 1960 film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986 film), a 1986 American film based on th ...

'', '' Grease'' and ''

Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...

''. In 2001, Gísli wrote the biography of singer

Björgvin Halldórsson Björgvin Helgi Halldórsson (alternate names: Bo Halldórsson, Björgvin Halldórsson or Bo Hall) (born 16 April 1951) is an Icelandic pop singer from Hafnarfjörður. He represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 with the song '' ...

. In 2011 he published the book ''Ég drepst þar sem mér sýnist'' (English: I'll die wherever I feel like), a book filled with funny stories from his early days as a comedian.

Personal life

Gísli was married to actress Edda Björgvinsdóttir. They met in drama school in the 1970s and were divorced in 2000, though they remained close friends. They have two sons, who like their parents both took to acting, Björgvin Franz Gíslason and Róbert Ólíver Gíslason. He has two other children from other relationships. His son Róbert was diagnosed with

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinkin ...

as a child. Gísli, as well as his older son, Björgvin, was thought to have the disease although he was never diagnosed by a professional. Gísli was an alcoholic and stopped drinking in 1987.

References

External links

*
Glatkistan
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