Bodil Rosing

Bodil Rosing (born Bodil Hammerich; December 27, 1877 – December 31, 1941) was a Danish-American film actress in the silent and sound eras.

Bodil Rosing
Rosing (left) with Irene Ware in
King Kelly of the U.S.A., 1934
Born
Bodil Frederikke Hammerich

(1877-12-27)December 27, 1877
Copenhagen, Denmark
DiedDecember 31, 1941(1941-12-31) (aged 64)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1925–1941
Spouse(s)
Eiliv Jansen
​
(
m. 1898; div. 1919)
Children4

Early years

The daughter of a music dean and his wife, a well-known pianist, Bodil Hammerich studied acting at the Royal Danish Theatre in the 1890s.

Career

Rosing worked as a stage actress in Denmark, performing for three years with the Royal Danish Theatre.[1] During the early 1920s, she made one or two stage appearances on Broadway, including Fools Errant (1922),[2] while raising her children alone.[3][4] She was retired from acting when she came to Hollywood in 1924, where her daughter married actor Monte Blue. There, she was suddenly chosen to play a film role, in Pretty Ladies (1925).

Rosing was under studio contract at MGM and often played matronly roles such as servants, housekeepers, cooks, or mothers. Her most notable role was perhaps Janet Gaynor's faithful maid in F.W. Murnau's silent film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927). With the advent of sound film, she mostly portrayed foreigners and proved herself an extremely versatile actress in a variety of ethnicities, in about 85 films until her death. She appeared as the wife of her Danish compatriot, Jean Hersholt, in The Painted Veil (1934) with Greta Garbo, replacing the originally cast Beulah Bondi to bring a warmer look to the role.[5] She also played the German neighbor of Lionel Barrymore in You Can't Take It With You (1938) by Frank Capra.

Personal life

Rosing married a Norwegian doctor, Einer Jansen, in 1898; the couple had four children. They divorced in 1919.

Death

Rosing died of a heart attack, aged 64. Shortly before her death, Rosing stated about her acting: "My goal has always been to reach the heart of my audience."[3]

Partial filmography

See also

References
  1. "Bodil Rosing Will Entertain Young Son". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. June 30, 1926. p. 25. Retrieved May 14, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Mantle, Burns; Chapman, John Arthur; Sherwood, Garrison P.; Kronenberger, Louis (1923). The Best Plays. Dodd, Mead.
  3. Bodil Rosing short biography, allmovie.com; accessed July 28, 2015.
  4. Bodil Rosing biography; ibdb.com; accessed July 28, 2015.
  5. Bret, David (June 25, 2012). Greta Garbo: A Divine Star. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84954-353-8.


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