fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Kyllikki Forssell (2 May 1925 — 7 October 2019)[1] was a leading Finnish stage and film actress, with a career spanning over 60 years from the mid-20th to the early 21st century and film director.[2][3][4]

Teatterineuvos Vapaaherratar Kyllikki Forssell
Forssell in 2007
Born	Kyllikki Kaarina Forssell (1925-05-02)2 May 1925 Helsinki, Finland
Died	7 October 2019(2019-10-07) (aged 94) Helsinki
Occupation	actress, director
Spouses	Patrick Bruun ​ ​ (m. 1945; div. 1950)​ Erik Indrenius-Zalewski ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 1962)​
Awards	Pro Finlandia (1976) Ida Aalberg Prize (1991)

She was one of the first four Finnish women film directors.[5]

Early life and education

Kyllikki Forssell was born in Helsinki to cavalry Colonel Juho Forssell and Kyllikki née Nyman-Linnove.[3] She had a strict, military-style upbringing, with her mother insisting — despite the family being Finnish-speaking — on speaking French to her daughter.[6]

She received her education in Finnish, Swedish and German,[6] completing her secondary school in 1943, and went on, against the wishes of her anti-thespian father, to study acting at the Suomi-Filmi cinematic school (1943–44) and the Swedish Theatre stage school (1944–46).[2][3]

Career

Forssell was regarded as an intelligent, confident, and technically skilled actor, with a line of strong, regal characters in her repertoire.[7]

Although she appeared in several films, she is best known as a stage actor, most notably attached to the Finnish National Theatre where she worked over 40 years from 1948 until the early 1990s.[7][4] She also worked extensively with the Helsinki City Theatre.[8]

She also directed four productions at the National Theatre,[2] as well as three television dramas.[9]

Stage work (selected)

A small selection of Forssell's many roles included (all at the Finnish National Theatre, unless otherwise indicated):[2][10]

• Jessica in Dirty Hands
• Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker
• Catharine in Suddenly Last Summer
• Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest
• Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night
• Miss Mary Shepherd / Margaret Fairchild in The Lady in the Van
• Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Her portrayal of Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker was considered by some as the performance of the decade.[2]

Filmography as actress (selected)

• Tyttö Astuu Elämään (1943) — Aino Mäkinen
• Nuoria Ihmisiä (1943) — Leni
• Suomisen Olli Yllättää (1945) — Leila
• Ylijäämänainen (1951) — Ella Quist

[11][9]

Filmography as director

• Kolmiopila (1953)
• Merihevonen (1961)
• Play Strindberg (1971)

Honours and awards

In 1976, Forssell received the Pro Finlandia [fi] medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland,[12] and in 1991, Finland's premier theatre award, the Ida Aalberg Prize [fi].[2]

In 1989, the honorary title of Teatterineuvos (lit. 'Theatre Counselor') was conferred on Forssell by the President of Finland.[1]

Personal life

In 1945, Forssell married the historian, Professor Patrick Bruun, but the marriage ended in divorce only five years later.[2]

In 1951, she married Freiherr Erik Indrenius-Zalewski, thus becaming entitled Freifrau (Finnish: Vapaaherratar).[2]

In the 1960s her affair with fellow actor Esko Salminen, 15 years her junior, caused something of a scandal due to their age difference.[7]

Forssell retired in 2012, and died in 2019 at the age of 94, after a long battle with cancer.[1]

References

External links

• Kyllikki Forssell at IMDb 

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