Dates: April 8, 1912 - October 12, 1969
Known for: Olympic championship; successful Hollywood films
Occupation: figure skater, professional ice skater, movie actress
About Sonja Henie:
Sonja Henie, trained in ballet, added some elements from ballet into her figure skating routine. She was termed the "Pavlova of the ice," and her skating routine and glamourous demeanor helped to transform the sport permanently and increase its popularity. Sonja Henie appeared at the Winter Olympics in 1928, 1932 and 1936. After her wins, Sonja Henie turned professional, touring Europe and America. (She was also ranked Norway's third best tennis player in her youth.)
She starred in ten very popular Hollywood films and continued touring with the Hollywood Ice Revue which drew large crowds. She became an American citizen. Though her first two husbands were Americans, she moved back to Norway with her third husband, a Norwegian ship owner, where she founded a museum of modern art with her own collection of impressionist and postimpressionist art as its core. She died in 1969 of leukemia, succumbing while on a flight to Oslo.
Books About Sonja Henie:
- Henie, Leif and Raymond Strait. Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie. 1990.
- Kirby, Michael. Figure Skating to Fancy Skating: Memoirs of the Life of Sonja Henie. 2001.
Movies Starring Sonja Henie:
- One in a Million. 1937.
- Thin Ice. 1937.
- My Lucky Star. 1938.
- Happy Landing. 1938.
- Second Fiddle. 1939.
- Everything Happens at Night. 1939.
- Sun Valley Serenade. 1941.
- Iceland. 1942.
- Wintertime. 1943.
- It's a Pleasure. 1945.
