News from Berlin

News from Berlin – On Wednesday, October 29th at 19:00, the Nordic Embassies in Berlin will be hosting a Film Club special event. The film special will concentrate on the work of Gale Sondergaard, an incredibly talented Oscar-winning international Hollywood star, with a Danish background.

Sondergaard studied acting at the Minneapolis School of Dramatic Arts before joining the John Keller Shakespeare Company, where she toured worldwide performing infamous plays such as ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Hamlet’. Sondergaard’s first film debut was ‘Anthony Adverse’ and she received an Oscar for this movie in 1936 for best supporting actress. Sondergaard was initially cast as the witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939), however after realizing that the witch would not be glamorous, Sondergaard was reluctant to take the role of an ugly wicked witch for fear that it could damage her career.

Throughout her lifetime, Sondergaard starred in 35 films, including ‘Never Say Die’, ‘Anna and the King of Siam’, ‘The Life of Emile Zola’ and ‘Appointment in Berlin’. Sly, manipulative, dangerously cunning and sinister were the key words that best described the roles that Gale Sondergaard played in motion pictures, making her one of the most talented character actresses ever seen on the screen.

Her final movie appearance was in the 1983 film ‘Echoes’. In August 1985, at the age of 86, Sondergaard passed away at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

This event at the Nordic Embassies Berlin, in partnership with the Danish Film Institute, will celebrate the life and work of Gale Sondergaard. The event will include a lecture from Sondergaard’s biographer, where he will describe her life achievements and her Danish sense of belonging and political commitment. Furthermore, on display will be original excerpts from the films that Sondergaard starred in, exemplifying her fantastic contribution to film.

This event is set to be an incredibly interesting and inspiring evening for those generally interested in film and also for those more specifically captivated by the work of Gale Sondergaard.

For more information: http://www.nordischebotschaften.org/felleshus/veranstaltungen/im-haus/2014/10/141029_filmklub.php

News from Berlin – Berlin Global