Viveca Lindfors

Viveca Lindfors

Birth name: Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors
Born: December 29, 1920
Died: October 25, 1995 (at age 74)
Birthplace: Uppsala, Sweden
Popularity:
Biography

Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors (29 December 1920 - 25 October 1995), better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.

Life and career

Lindfors was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the daughter of Karin Emilia Therese (née Dymling) and Axel Torsten Lindfors. She trained at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School, Stockholm. Soon after, she became a theater and film star in Sweden. She moved to the United States in 1946 after being signed by Warner Bros. and began working in Hollywood. She appeared in more than one hundred films including Night Unto Night, No Sad Songs for Me, Dark City, King of Kings, Creepshow, The Sure Thing, and Stargate.

She appeared with actors such as Ronald Reagan, Jeffrey Hunter, Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott and Errol Flynn. In 1963 she appeared in the film An Affair of the Skin as the mistress of Kevin McCarthy's character. Lindfors appeared in an television episode of the first season of Twelve O'Clock High. She also appeared on television, including the 1959 episode "The Temple of the Swinging Doll" of the NBC espionage drama Five Fingers, starring David Hedison. Later, she had a recurring role on the ABC series Life Goes On, for which she won an Emmy Award. Lindfors appeared with Joseph Cotten and Ward Bond in the 1957 film The Halliday Brand. One of her last performances was in the original Stargate film in which she played the role of Catherine Langford.

An original and mesmerizing stage presence, her roles ranged from Strindberg to Shakespeare to the musical Pal Joey.

In 1962 she shared the Silver Bear for Best Actress award with Rita Gam at the Berlin Film Festival, for their performances in Tad Danielewski's No Exit.

Among her later film roles, perhaps the most memorable is the kindly and worldly-wise Professor Taub in The Sure Thing (1985).

She was married four times: to Harry Hasso, a Swedish cinematographer; Folke Rogard, a Swedish attorney and World Chess Federation president; Don Siegel, the director; and George Tabori, a Hungarian writer, producer and director. She had three children: two sons (John Tabori with Hasso, and the actor Kristoffer Tabori, with Siegel) and a daughter (Lena Tabori, with Rogard).

In the last years of her life, she taught acting at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and had a lead role (essentially playing herself) in Henry Jaglom's Last Summer in the Hamptons (1995). The same year she returned to the Strindberg Festival in Stockholm to perform in the play In Search of Strindberg, which had been produced earlier that year at the Actors Studio. She died of rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 74 and was buried in Sweden. In New York City, a service was held at the Actors Studio where Gene Frankel, who had directed her in I Am a Woman and Brecht on Brecht, spoke to an audience about his respect and affection for her.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1948 Adventures of Don Juan Queen Margaret
1949 Night Unto Night Ann Gracie
1950 Dark City Victoria Winant
1950 Backfire Lysa Radoff
1950 This Side of The Law Evelyn Taylor
1950 No Sad Songs for Me Chris Radna
1950 The Flying Missile Karin Hansen
1951 Four in a Jeep Franziska Idinger
1951 Journey Into Light Christine Thorssen
1952 Riders of Vengeance Elena de Ortega
1955 Moonfleet Mrs. Minton
1955 Run for Cover Helga Swenson
1958 I Accuse! Lucie Dreyfus
1959 Rawhide Luisa Esquivel Y Hadley 1 episode
1960 Johnny Midnight Simone in episode "X Equals Murder")
1960 The Story of Ruth Eleilat
1960 Weddings and Babies Bea
1961 King of Kings Claudia
1961 Tempest Catherine the Great
1961 The Untouchables Mrs. Jarreau
1961 Naked City Lulu Kronen 1 episode
1962 No Exit Inez aka Sinners Go to Hell
1962/1964 The Defenders Mady Lorne / Madeline Flanders 2 episodes
1963 The Damned Freya Neilson aka These Are the Damned
1964 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Dr. Laura Rettig 1 episode
1964 12 O'Clock High Nicole Trouchard 1 episode
1965 Bonanza Angela Bergstrom 1 episode
1965/1966 Ben Casey Mrs. Boone / Vivian Bennett 2 episodes
1967 The Diary of Anne Frank TV movie
1967/1969 The F.B.I. Ida Salzman / Eva Bolen 2 episodes
1970 The Interns Jennie 1 episode
1972 A House Without Boundaries Señorita Elvira
1973 The Way We Were Paula Reisner
1978 Girlfriends Beatrice
1979 Voices Mrs. Lemon
1981 The Hand Doctress
1982 Inside the Third Reich Gypsy woman TV movie
1982 Creepshow Aunt Bedelia
1982 Dynasty Adriana 1 episode
1983 Dies rigorose Leben Ada
1984 Trapper John, M.D. Zella Korevechi 1 episode
1984 Passions Lila TV movie
1985 The Sure Thing Professor Taub
1987 Frankenstein's Aunt Hannah von Frankenstein 7 episodes
1987 Rachel River Harriet White
1988 The Ann Jillian Story Ann's Mother TV movie
1990 China Beach Ilsa 1 episode
1990 The Exorcist III Nurse X
1991 Zandalee Tatta
1992 North of Pittsburgh Rosa Andretti Genie Award nomination for Best Actress
1993 Law & Order Helga Holtz 1 episode
1994 Stargate Catherine Langford
1994 Backstreet Justice Mrs. Robovit
1995 Last Summer in the Hamptons Helena Mora

Major stage appearances

  • 1952 - I've Got Sixpence .... Inez Cabral
  • 1954/55 - Anastasia .... Anna
  • 1956 - Miss Julie .... Miss Julie and The Stronger .... Miss Y
  • 1956 - King Lear .... Cordelia
  • 1963 - Pal Joey .... Vera Simpson
  • 1965 - Postmark Zero
  • 1971 - Dance of Death .... Alice

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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