ASTA NIELSEN

Asta Nielsen was a Danish actress from the 1910s to the 1930s. She was born in Denmark in 1881, and became a major stage star there in the early 1900s. In 1910, she moved to Germany with director Urban Gad to make movies, and they had a personal and professional relationship. She had other marriages and became Germany's top star. In 1921, she appeared in Hamlet, in the title role, playing him as a woman! She returned to the stage after the coming of sound, but in the 1930s, Joseph Goebbels offered her her own studio, but she refused. During World War II, she gave much support to Allan O. Hagedorff, who helped people in concentration camps. She passed away in 1972 at the age of 90.