Gunn Wållgren

Gunn Wållgren (born Gunnel Margaret Haraldsdotter Wållgren; [vɔlɡreːn]; (1913 – 1983) was a Swedish stage and film actress.[1] She is known for her role as the grandmother in Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander.

Gunn Wållgren
As Joan of Arc, Royal Dramatic Theatre, 1948.
Born
Gunnel Margaret Haraldsdotter Wållgren

(1913-11-16)16 November 1913
Gothenburg, Sweden
Died4 June 1983(1983-06-04) (aged 69)
Stockholm, Sweden
OccupationActress
Years active1934–1982
Spouses
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(m. 1941; div. 1949)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1954; died 1975)​
    Children2

    Personal life

    Gunn Wållgren was born in Gothenburg on 16th November, 1913. In her teenage years, she began performing with a local children's theater. She wanted to become an actress when she was a child but her father, Harald Wållgren, did not support this ambition. In an attempt to dissuade her, Gunn's father sent her overseas on a trip to Switzerland, but Gunn was not dissuaded. Despite feelings of shyness and insecurity, which Wållgren experienced throughout her life, she secretly applied for the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school in Stockholm in 1934 and was admitted.

    Gunn Wållgren married Hampe Faustman (born Erik Stellan Chatham), an actor and film director, in 1941. The couple enjoyed a good relationship until their divorce in 1949. Later she married to Per-Axel Branner, a stage director, in 1954. She had two daughters from her first marriage namely, Susanne and Elaine.

    Career
    Gunn Wållgren, 1940s

    Theater

    Gunn Wållgren was awarded her first major role in 1936, at the Royal Dramatic Theatre portraying Mildred in Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!, which went on to become a very successful and long-running production. Wållgren proved to be popular with critics and audiences and received an immediate contract with the Royal Dramatic Theatre after her graduation from drama school in 1937. Despite working at different theatres throughout her life, Gunn always returned to the national stage. Stage performances by Wållgren include her portrayal of Sorel Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever in 1937, Celia in Shakespeare's As You Like It 1938 (directed by Alf Sjöberg), Curley's wife in the original Swedish staging of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in 1940, Iphigenia in Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris 1941, Ophelia in the classic 1942 staging of Hamlet (opposite Lars Hanson in the title role), Mary Grey/Joan of Arc in Joan of Lorraine by Maxwell Anderson in 1948, Catherine Sloper in The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz in the 1950/51 season, Indra's daughter in the Olof Molander-staging of Strindberg's A Dream Play 1955, Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull 1955, Masha in Chekhov's Three Sisters 1958, Isabella in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure 1958, Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House 1962, Gerda in Strindberg's Storm 1964, Mrs. Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts 196?, the grand portrayal of Madame Liubov Andreievna Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov in 1967, Martha Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace in 1970, the title role of Agnes in Kent Andersson's 1972 play, Lena in Fugard's Boesman and Lena 1977 and Ethel Thayer in Sista sommaren (play based on the film On Golden Pond, starring Katharine Hepburn in the same role) in 1981.

    Film

    Wållgren's film debut was in Sonja in 1943, but her breakthrough came with Kvinnor i fångenskap the same year, where Wållgren portrayed a young prisoner on the run. She had roles in films such as Flickan och djävulen (The Girl And The Devil) (opposite Stig Järrel) 1944, Var sin väg (Each To His Own Way) 1946, Medan porten var stängd (While The Door Was Locked) 1946 (written & directed by Hasse Ekman), Kvinna utan ansikte (Woman Without A Face) 1947 (with an early script by Ingmar Bergman), Glasberget (Mountain Of Glass) 1953 (directed by Hasse Ekman) and Klänningen (The Dress) 1964 (directed by Olof Molander with a script by Vilgot Sjöman), among others.

    Her supporting role in Gunnel Lindblom's debating drama Sally och friheten (1981) (Sally and Freedom), about a woman dealing with painful memories and the reality of an abortion, earned her the Guldbagge Award (the Golden Beetle), for Best Actress.

    Wållgren received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the grandmother in Ingmar Bergman's film Fanny och Alexander (1982), which was the last role of her life.

    Death

    Shortly after filming Fanny and Alexander, Wållgren was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her condition deteriorated quickly and she died on 4th June, 1983.

    Filmography
    On the cover of Filmjournalen, 1947
    On stage: as Indra's daughter in A Dream Play by August Strindberg, The Royal Dramatic Theatre, 1955

    Awards

    See also

    References
    1. "Gunn Wållgren". Swedish Film Database. 16 November 1913. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
    2. "Sally och friheten (1981)". The Swedish Film Database. Retrieved 9 March 2014.

    Further reading
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