Greta Nissen

{{Infobox person

| name = Greta Nissen

| image = Greta Nissen, silent film actress (SAYRE 7550).jpg

| caption = Nissen in 1925

| birth_name = Grethe Rüzt-Nissen

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|01|30|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|05|15|1906|01|30|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Montecito, California, U.S.

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Weldon Heyburn|1932|1936|end=annulled}}
{{marriage|Stuart D. Eckert|1941}}

}}

| children = 1

| yearsactive = 1923–1937

}}

Greta Nissen (born Grethe Rüzt-Nissen; 30 January 1906 – 15 May 1988){{cite book|author=Eugene Michael Vazzana|title=Silent film necrology: births and deaths of over 9000 performers, directors, producers, and other filmmakers of the silent era, through 1993|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5ZZAAAAMAAJ|access-date=31 July 2010|date=May 1995|publisher=McFarland|page=245|isbn=9780786401321}} was a Norwegian-American film and stage actress.

Stage and screen actress

Born Grethe Rüzt-Nissen in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, Nissen was originally a dancer. While still a student at the company's school in Copenhagen, she danced with the Royal Danish Ballet,Pat Ryan. "A Dancer Must Be Perfect All over": Greta Nissen on Stage and Screen", in Dance Chronicle, vol. 12, no, 3, 1989, pg. 285 debuted as a solo ballerina on the National Theatre in 1922. She toured in Norway and appeared in several Danish films.

Nissen made her Broadway debut as a ballerina in 1924. She had studied ballet with Michel Fokine. In early 1924, she came as a member of a Danish ballet troupe to New York, where she was soon hired to do a larger dance number for George S. Kaufman in the musical Beggar on Horseback.{{cite book

|author=Hans J. Wollstein

|title=Strangers in Hollywood: the history of Scandinavian actors in American films from 1910 to World War II

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPkqAQAAIAAJ

|access-date=30 July 2010

|year=1994

|publisher=Scarecrow Press

|isbn=978-0-8108-2938-1

|page=272

}} She was discovered by film producer Jesse L. Lasky of Paramount Pictures, and would appear in more than twenty films.

She appeared in The Wanderer (1925, director Raoul Walsh). Among her other films were Lost: A Wife, The King on Main Street, The Love Thief, Ambassador Bill, The Lucky Lady, and Honours Easy.

File:Greta Nissen by Tempest Inman, Photoplay, July 1925 (cropped).jpg

Nissen was cast as Helen, the female lead in Hell's Angels, originally conceived as a silent film. Principal photography began on 31 October 1927, with an interior shot at the Metropolitan Studio in Hollywood.Barlett, Donald L. and James B. Steele. Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1979; {{ISBN|0-393-07513-3}}, republished in 2004 as Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness, pg. 63.

Midway through production, the advent of sound in motion pictures came with the arrival of The Jazz Singer.

Director Howard Hughes incorporated the new technology into the half-finished film, but Nissen became a casualty of the new sound age, due to her pronounced Norwegian accent.{{cite book|author1=Lynn Kear|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_ODoCwz2EsC&pg=PA151|title=Evelyn Brent: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Lady Crook|author2=James King|date=June 2009|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-4363-5|page=151|access-date=31 July 2010}} He paid her for her work and cooperation, and replaced her, because her accent would make her role as a British aristocrat ludicrous.{{cite book|last=Stenn|first=David|author-link=David Stenn|date=1993|title=Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow|publisher=Bentam Doubleday Dell Publishing|location=New York|isbn=0-385-42157-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bombshelllife00sten/page/34 34–38]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bombshelllife00sten/page/34}}

In 1932, she played in The Silent Witness with Weldon Heyburn, who became her first husband. They married on 30 March 1932,{{cite news|title=Greta Nisson to Become Bride of Hollywood Actor|newspaper=The Klamath News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4231195/the_klamath_news/|agency=The Klamath News|date=30 March 1932|location=Oregon, Klamath Falls|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 5 February 2016}} {{Open access}} in Tijuana, Mexico.{{cite news|title=Greta Nissen and Weldon Heyburn Are Honeymooning|newspaper=The Lincoln Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4231355/the_lincoln_star/|agency=The Lincoln Star|date=31 March 1932|location=Nebraska, Lincoln|page=9|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 5 February 2016}} {{Open access}} On 19 October 1935, Nissen went to court to have the marriage annulled, "charging their marriage ... was illegal and violated legal witness and residence requirements."{{cite news|title=Greta Nissen Sues To Annul Marriage|newspaper=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4231397/oakland_tribune/|agency=Oakland Tribune|date=20 October 1935|location=California, Oakland|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 5 February 2016}} {{Open access}} The annulment was granted on 30 April 1936.{{cite news|title=Marriage Ends|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/eddie-blick/clipnumber/26216/|agency=Morning Avalanche|date=30 April 1936|location=Texas, Lubbock|page=2|via = Newspaperarchive.com|access-date = 5 February 2016}}

In 1933, she moved to England. Her film career ended in the mid-1930s after she had appeared in a few British films. In 1937, she retired from movie acting altogether.[http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Grethe_R%C3%BCzt-Nissen/utdypning Grethe Rüzt-Nissen, Danser Skuespiller] (Hans-Christian Arent. Norsk biografisk leksikon)

Critical acclaim

File:Greta Nissen Photoplay227.jpg

A 1925 New York Times review{{cite news |first=Mordaunt |last=Hall |title=The Screen, A Norwegian Actress |work=The New York Times |page=10 |date=22 June 1925 }} of the silent film A Norwegian Actress described Nissen as follows:

She was graceful in her movements and expressions, with a constantly changing gaze. The actress was attractive rather than beautiful. Her chin and nose were both somewhat pronounced. Greta's personality was delightful and she never showed an awareness to the audience that she was conscious of being on camera. Her skin was fair and she possessed blonde hair. At different times her coiffure had a somewhat "wild" appearance.

The reviewer believed her hair was more effective when it was brushed down rather than when it was concealed by a small hat. As for her eyes, there was a close affinity in their appearance to those of Sarah Bernhardt. Mordaunt Hall commented on her acting, saying, "Miss Nissen gives a sincere and earnest portrayal, always obtaining excellent results with an originality rarely beheld on the screen".{{cite news |first=Mordaunt |last=Hall |title=Exceptional Performance Given By Talented Young Norwegian Actress |work=The New York Times |page=X2 |date=28 June 1925 }}

Later years and death

On 1 June 1941, she married industrialist Stuart D. Eckert (1907–1993), and withdrew from public life."A Dancer Must Be Perfect All over": Greta Nissen on Stage and Screen", Pat M. Ryan, in Dance Chronicle, vol. 12, no, 3, 1989, p. 285 Nissen died at age 82 at her home in Montecito, California of Parkinson's disease on 15 May 1988.{{cite book

|author=Hans J. Wollstein

|title=Strangers in Hollywood: the history of Scandinavian actors in American films from 1910 to World War II

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPkqAQAAIAAJ

|access-date=30 July 2010

|year=1994

|publisher=Scarecrow Press

|isbn=978-0-8108-2938-1

|page=282

}}

Her husband said she still received fan letters. She had one son, Tor Bruce Nissen Eckert, who, in 2005, donated his large collection of Greta Nissen Memorabilia to the Norwegian Emigrant Museum (Norsk Utvandrermuseum) which is located in Ottestad, Hedmark, Norway.{{cite news |title=Greta Nissen Dies; Her Beauty Graced Many Silent Movies |publisher=The Post-Standard |page=A8 |date=16 July 1988 }}{{cite web|url= https://snl.no/Norsk_Utvandrermuseum|title= Norsk Utvandrermuseum|publisher=Store norske leksikon|author= Cathrine Arnesen|access-date=5 March 2016}}

Gallery

Image:El Brendel and Greta Nissen.jpg|Promotional photo of El Brendel and Greta Nissen for the 1931 comedy film Women of All Nations

Image:Greta Nissen, Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe.jpg|Promotional photo of Nissen, with Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe, for the 1931 comedy film Women of All Nations

Image:Greta Nissen Argentinean Magazine AD 2.jpg |Argentinian magazine cover, 1931

Image:Greta Nissen Argentinean Magazine AD 3.jpg |Argentinian magazine photoshoot, 1933