Sigrid Gurie

Sigrid Gurie
Sigrid Gurie in Algiers (1938)
Born	Sigrid Gurie Haukelid (1911-05-18)May 18, 1911 New York City, U.S.
Died	August 14, 1969(1969-08-14) (aged 58) Mexico City, Mexico
Years active	1937–1950
Spouse(s)	Thomas Stewart (1935–c. 1938) (divorced) Dr. Lawrence Spangard (1939–1948) (divorced) Lynn Abbott (1958–1961) (divorced)
Relatives	Knut Haukelid brother

Sigrid Gurie (born Sigrid Gurie Haukelid, May 18, 1911 – August 14, 1969) was a Norwegian American motion picture actress from the late 1930s to early 1940s.

Early life

Gurie was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father was a civil engineer who worked for the New York City Subway from 1902 to 1912. Since Sigrid Gurie and her twin brother Knut Haukelid were born in the United States, the twins held dual Norwegian-American citizenship. In 1914 the family returned to Norway. Sigrid Gurie subsequently grew up in Oslo and was educated in Norway, Sweden, and Belgium. In 1935 Gurie married Thomas Stewart of California; she filed for divorce in 1938. Her brother became a noted member of the Norwegian resistance movement during World War II.

Career

In 1936, Gurie arrived in Hollywood. Film magnate Sam Goldwyn reportedly took credit for discovering her, promoting his discovery as "the Norwegian Garbo" and billed her as "the siren of the fjords". She starred as Kokashin, daughter of Kublai Khan, in the 1938 production of The Adventures of Marco Polo, When the press discovered Gurie's birth in Flatbush, Goldwyn then claimed "the greatest hoax in movie history." She was then scapegoated for the film's failure

She went on to give worthwhile performances in such films as Algiers (1938), Three Faces West (1940) and Voice in the Wind (1944). She had a minor role in the classic Norwegian film Kampen om tungtvannet (1948). The movie was based principally on the book Skis Against the Atom which was written by her brother, Knut Haukelid, a noted saboteur and member of the Norwegian resistance against German occupation in World War II.

Later years and death

In the late 1940s she attended the Kann Art Institute, operated in West Hollywood by abstract artist Frederick I. Kann (1886–1965). She studied oils and portraiture. Among her works were landscapes, portraits and pen and ink sketches.

From 1961-69 she lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she continued painting, and was also designing jewelry for Royal Copenhagen in Denmark.

She entered the hospital in Mexico City on an emergency basis for a recurring kidney problem, then developed a blood clot that passed through her lungs, which led to her death.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	The Road Back	Soldier's wife	Uncredited
1938	Algiers	Ines
1938	The Adventures of Marco Polo	Princess Kukachin
1939	The Forgotten Woman	Anne Kennedy
1939	Rio	Irene Reynard
1940	Three Faces West	Leni "Lenchen" Braun
1940	Dark Streets of Cairo	Ellen Stephens
1944	Voice in the Wind	Marya
1944	Enemy of Women	Magda Quandt
1948	Kampen om tungtvannet (released internationally as Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water)
1948	Sword of the Avenger	Maria Louisa
1948	Sofia	Linda Carlsen
1950	The Du Pont Story	Sophie du Pont

External links

• Sigrid Gurie at IMDb
• Sigrid Gurie at AllMovie
• Sigrid Gurie at the TCM Movie Database
• Sigrid Gurie at Find a Grave