Henie, already a precocious skier and swimmer, cried until her parents bought her a . Once Henie began serious training as a figure skater, her formal schooling ended. Sonya Eddy, a veteran actress best known for her performance as nurse Epiphany Johnson on the soap opera "General Hospital," has died, the show announced in a tribute post. An excellent book that devotes much attention to Henie in the context of the development of skating is Nigel Brown, Ice-Skating: A History (1959). In her autobiography, Wings on My Feet, Henie explained that the primary factor facilitating her being so "lucky" in achieving her skating goals was her family's wealth. The experience inspired her to introduce choreographic design in her free skating program, an innovation that helped her win an Olympic gold medal in 1928 at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. During the twentieth century no competitor was able to match Henie's three consecutive Olympic gold medals in women's figure skating. The film soon grossed $2 million and made Henie a household name. 1974); James Robert Parish, The Fox Girls (1971); and James Vinson, ed., The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, vol. Practicing as much as seven hours a day, she studied with teachers in Germany, England, Switzerland and Austria. They also made her wealthy. Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: Sports Figures, Hamill, Dorothy Ted Scott ( John Payne) is a band pianist whose publicity manager decides that, for good press, the band should adopt a foreign refugee. Wiki User. appeared on the cover of Time magazine and her skates were immortalized She had high profile romances with Tyrone Power, boxer Joe She was signed by 20th Century-Fox and debuted in One in a Million (1936), in which she played an ice skater. [1], Henie began skating at the age of 5. [3] Henie's popularity as a film actress attracted many new fans and instituted skating shows as a popular new entertainment. She died a year later at age fifty-seven. . She grew up in a In her later years she was noted as a collector and patron of modern art. Norway's king and queen attended the funeral service. During her competitive career, Henie traveled widely and worked with a variety of foreign coaches. In Paris yesterday her condition worsened, and it was decided to fly her home. Her husband chartered a plane to convey her from Paris to Oslo to see her doctor, but she died onboard in her sleep. The next year, she began training for the national championship of Norway. Temper Remembered In August 1931 her Chrysler roadster came in second in an amateur automobile race in Stockholm, and she became runner-up in the Norwegian national tennis tournament in 1932. In 1953, Henie formed a new partnership with Morris Chalfen to appear in his European Holiday On Ice tour, which proved to be a great success. It was an ill-advised decision to set herself up in competition with Wirtz, whose shows now featured the new Olympic champion Barbara Ann Scott. 2023 . When she returned the following year, she secured the women's national championship title and, as part of her record-making legacy, would come back the subsequent six years to retain that title. Both of Henie's parents had given up their own pursuits in Norwayleaving Leif to run the fur businessin order to accompany Sonja on her travels and act as her managers. Sonja Henie. Like many Hollywood stars, she supported the U.S. war effort through USO and otherwise. She had to concentrate on her profession, and fulfill contracts, really from the age of nine on," he explained. As Honorary Jumper", "Photo Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner EI-LNA", "Cheap flights to Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm Norwegian", "Sundance Film Review: 'Sonja: The White Swan', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonja_Henie&oldid=1151351901, Inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame (1982), In 1938, at age 25, she became the youngest person to be made a knight first class of. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Michael Weatherly is mourning the loss of his brother. I want to do with skates what Fred Astaire is doing with dancing. At 15 she would win the Olympic gold medal in She nevertheless had negotiated an impressive contract and was an immediate hit with audiences. Sonja Henie's Night, an exhibition that played before and during the intermission of ice hockey games at Madison Square Garden during March 1936, was a success. According to a quote in the New York Times, Henie felt that she was working harder than ever: "When I was in championship competition I was on the ice for exactly four minutes. Rap singer She is mentioned by Ty Webb, Chevy Chases character in Caddyshack, as a possible but unavailable substitute for Rodney Dangerfields character (Al Czervik) in the final golf wager round before Michael OKeefes Danny Noonan is chosen. Henie would make eleven films in Hollywood, with the first six being the most successful. Time (July 17, 1939): 51-54. She competed in the 1924 Winter Born in Oslo on April 8, 1912, Miss Henie received her first skates from her father, a Norwegian fur wholesaler, on the Christmas after her sixth birthday. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Henie was 5 years old, the story goes, when her older brother, Leif, got a pair of ice skates for his birthday. April 08, 1912 Died October 12, 1969 Cause of Death Leukemia Biography Read More Winner of the Olympic Gold medal in figure skating an impressive three times in a row (1928, 1932, 1936), Henie came to Twentieth Century-Fox shortly after her last win and was built up as a popular star. She enjoyed music and dance from an early age, studying ballet and after beginning her competitive skating career, admired the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova after seeing her perform in London.[2]. [13] Henie incorporated dance elements into her figure skating, through the placement of spins, jumps, and choreography to reflect the mood of the music she used. Henie was also successful in Hollywood. skater to parlay her athletic success into a lucrative career. ." Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. When Zanuck realized this, he cast her in more musical comedies; Sun Valley Serenade (1941) with Glenn Miller, John Payne, The Nicholas Brothers, and hit songs such as "In the Mood", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "It Happened in Sun Valley", and "I Know Why (And So Do You)"; followed by Iceland (1942) with Jack Oakie, Payne, and the hit song "There Will Never Be Another You"; and finally Wintertime (1943) with Cesar Romero, Carole Landis, Cornel Wilde, and Oakie. Miss Henie was an exacting star. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sonja-Henie, Sonja Henie - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Henie was the greatest of all women figure skaters from the 1920s to the 1940s, and perhaps of the entire twentieth century. It was her only film shot in Technicolor, but it was not as huge at the box office as her other films and also proved her limitations as a dramatic actress in her only dramatic film. She was a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in Ladies' Singles, a ten-time World Champion (1927-1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931-1936). "She went after me in every which way from that point on," said Hulten. She became a United States citizen in 1941. Olympics and came in eighth place. After placing last in a field of eight, she increased her practice time to some seven hours a day. Henie is credited with transforming an originally demure, predictable activity by infusing it with her feminine charms and passion for the ballet. . During sixteen years of touring she earned something in the range of $10 million and her movies probably netted her more than $25 million. 1968 Sonja was diagnosed with leukemia. Henie went on to win a total of three Olympic figure skating championships: she also won gold medals at Lake Placid, New York in 1932 and at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria in 1936. Hjordis Olsen, an amateur skater at a private club, drilled Henie in mastering the mandatory school figures. "Even on the podium after the Olympics, there were no kisses, no handshakes, not even a word." [15], Also according to Kestnbaum, "Henie's largest contribution to public images of skating"[15] was in her professional ice shows and in her Hollywood films, which were often the first time audiences were exposed to figure skating through the mass media. ." Skater Sonja Henie 'Put A Dollar Sign' Behind The Gold She was 57. Kestnbaum argues that the costumes Henie wore in her shows and films, which were short, revealing, full of sequins and feathers, and more reminiscent of the costumes of female entertainers than of the clothes worn in the more conservative world of competitive figure skating of the time, most likely contributed to the "showiness" that influenced the costume choices of later generations of female competitive figure skaters.[15]. Miss Henie had been suffering from leukemia for the last nine months. It was also noted in Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows that before the war started the Henies had visited with Adolf Hitler and that during a 1936 show in Berlin she had given him the Nazi salute and said "Heil, Hitler.". When Geoffrey and Ken track Norden to a small village in the Swiss Alps, they soon find themselves competing over the affections of beautiful Louise (Henie), who has a deeper connection to the missing Nobel laureate than the reporters realize. However, these are not Henie's most enduring achievements. included dazzling ice-skating routines which she choreographed herself. Sonja Henie, (born April 8, 1912, Kristiania , Norwaydied October 12, 1969, in an airplane en route to Oslo), Norwegian-born American world champion figure skater and Olympic gold medalist who went on to achieve success as a professional ice-skater and as a motion-picture actress. Henie's autobiography, written with Janet Owen, is Wings on My Feet (1940). At age 10 she won the Norwegian national figure-skating championship, and in 1924 she competed in the Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France. Following the success of Thin Ice, Henie showed her growing business savvy by getting Twentieth Century-Fox to renegotiate her contract. In 1936 Henie won her third and final gold medal at the fourth Winter Olympic Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, by earning 2,971.4 points. Sonja HENIE Biography, Olympic Medals, Records and Age Best Answer. One of the most influential female athletes of the past century, Peggy Fleming combined grace and power t, Vanilla Ice first pair of ice skates when she was six. . . At the time, figure skating and ice shows were not yet an established form of entertainment in the United States. Henie was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in the mid-1960s. For emphasis on Henie's film career, see entries in David Shipman, The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years (1970; rev. Sonja Henie - IMDb She appeared on several television shows in the next few years, including a one- hour special of her own. -- Sonja Henie OSLO, Norway -- She was the first to spin, the first to jump, the first to be crowned a figure skating ice queen. He named Henie as the instigator. Sonja Henie Biography, Age, Height, Husband, Net Worth, Family

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