Lillebil Ibsen(1899-1989)
- Actress
- Director
Norweigan actress Lillebil Ibsen was born as Sofie Parelius Krohn. She
was the daughter of engineer Georg Monrad Krohn and actress Gyda
Andersen (Gyda Monrad Krohn). Later on, her mother married Halfdan
Christensen and became Managing Director of "Det Nye Teater" in Norway
(as Gyda Christensen). Lillebil Ibsen started her career as a young talented
dancer and later became one of Norway's most distinguished stage
actresses ever, mainly working at the national theatre stage in Norway,
called "Nationaltheatret". She appeared in many classic works by Shaw,
Moliére, Wilde, Ibsen and Shakespeare. She successfully played the part
of Abby Brewster in Joseph Kesselring's comedy Arsenic and Old Lace (Arsenik og
gamle kniplinger, Nationaltheatret, 1968). Lillebil Ibsen was above all
a leading stage actress in Norway and did very few movie parts.
Ironically, her greatest movie achievement is in a style-forming
classic Swedish movie called Mannekäng i rött (1958), where she fabulously plays the
role of stern fashion Mogul Thyra Lennberg (with perfect Swedish
accent). The popular movie is part of the cultivated "Hillman-thriller"
series (directed by Arne Mattsson; written by Folke Mellvig), which contains five
movies, all with the name of a colour in the title.