Signe Hasso

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Signe Hasso in Strange Triangle (1946)

Signe Hasso (born August 15, 1915 in Stockholm as Signe Eleonora Cecilia Larsson , † June 7, 2002 in Los Angeles ) was a Swedish - American actress .

Life

Signe Hasso joined the prestigious acting school of the Royal Dramatic Theater ( Dramaten ) in Stockholm at the age of 12 as one of the youngest students of all time . In 1933 she made her first feature film Tystnadens hus and married Harry Hasso (artist name of the German director Karl Harry Hasso Hartnagel) and took on his (artist) name. The marriage only lasted until 1941.

In 1940 she moved to the United States, where she signed a contract with the RKO Pictures production company. Early on, and not without marketing ideas from RKO Pictures, she was traded as “the next Garbo”, an allusion to the honorary Oscar winner and film legend Greta Garbo , also a Swedish-American actress. However, Hasso was unable to meet the high expectations associated with this comparison. She could not build on Garbo's successes. Her first notable role was that of the beautiful "Mademoiselle" in A Heavenly Sinner (1943), directed by Ernst Lubitsch . In the 1940s she played in The Seventh Cross (1944), Johnny Angel (1945), An elegant crook (1946) and A double life (1947).

In the 1950s, her Hollywood career stalled. After her son Henry was killed in a car accident in 1954, she withdrew completely from the American film business. Until the mid-1960s she could be seen either in Swedish film productions, American television series or on theaters in New York . In 1966, she returned to Hollywood in the horror film Picture Mommy Dead .

In 1972, the then King of Sweden Gustav VI spoke to her . Adolf to the Wasa Order . In 1989, she also took American citizenship in addition to Swedish.

Hasso was a well-respected poet and writer in the later years of her life and earned great recognition for her translations of Swedish folk songs into English . She also continued to appear as an actress in many productions. Her last appearance was in 2001 in a television documentary about Greta Garbo.

One of her best friends was Peter Stormare , who was with her during the last hours of her life. In 2002 she died of lung cancer. She received a star on the Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography (selection)

Works (selection)

  • Momo , 1977
  • Kom slott , 1978
  • Hoppa hoppa hage och andra rim , 1978
  • Tidens vän , Stockholm 1990

literature

  • Frank Flechtmann, Alpha Omega, SAEM and Heinrich Hansjakob: Post from Haslach to Himmler and Kennedy. The director Harry Hasso as an inventor in times of war and peace. In: The Ortenau. Publications of the historical association for Mittelbaden, 81st annual volume, Offenburg 2001, pp. 545–598.

Web links

Commons : Signe Hasso  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Hasso, Signe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Larsson, Signe Eleonora Cecilia (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish-American actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm , Sweden
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 2002
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States