Karin Swanström
| Karin Swanström | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Karin Sofia Svanström June 13, 1873 |
| Died | July 5, 1942 (aged 69) Stockholm |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Occupation | Actress, Producer, Director |
| Years active | 1890 - 1942 |
| Spouse(s) | Stellan Claësson (M.1915-1942) |
Karin Swanström (June 13, 1873 – July 5, 1942) was a Swedish actress, producer and director.
Swanström was born in St. Olai congregation in Norrköping. Little is known of her life before she was accepted for the Royal Dramatic Theatre school in 1890 when she was seventeen. Already in school her acting ability was acknowledge by her performance in two student plays. In 1892 she left the Royal Dramatic Theater school and was employed by The Royal Dramatic Theater and was in the ensemble for five years. In 1897 Karin Swanström went from the Royal Dramatic Theater to Selander Company, that was run by Hjalmar and Concordia Selander, for a year and then she went to Swedish Theater Company in Helsinki in 1899.
When she came back to Sweden from Helsinki in 1904 she started her own theater company, Karin Swanström Theater Company, that was active and run by Swanström until the early 1920s. She now began teaching acting in Stockholm and did this during the years 1921-25 and at the same time she began acting in silent films with Maurtiz Stiller's De landsflyktige in 1921. The critics loved the film and Swanström, one wrote " as the most beautiful middle aged lady with the greatest scenic routine that you can find". Two years after this Karin Swanström became head of production at Bonnierfilm, and in the same year she directed her first film, but it was for AB Svensk Filmindustri, or SF.
This film, which translates roughly to Boman at the Fair, is a comedy that takes place during the fair in Gothenburg, in 1923. Swanström had to share her directing credit with the screenwriter Oscar Rydqvist, but "his part in directing the film was more a title than having any say during production". It received even reviews it was said that the film was neither bad or good, it had good, even great, moments but it also had bad parts as a "slow tempo" because of the "large number of attraction shots". It was also seen as being "silly", these attraction shots were of the fair, the film was also seen as an excuse for documenting the fair in Gothenburg.
After Boman at the Fair, she went on to star in six silent films and two of them were The Saga of Gosta Berling part one and two. Of these six films, only two that were produced by Bonnierfilm, so being head of production didn't stop her from taking jobs with competing studios. But her busiest year was 1925. Not only was she teaching acting, but she was also directing two film and had two films coming out at the same time.
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