Sonia Henie

Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie at the 1936 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Sonja Henie
Born	(1912-04-08)8 April 1912 Oslo, Norway
Died	12 October 1969(1969-10-12) (aged 57) during a flight from Paris to Oslo (leukemia)
Height	1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
Former partner	Jack Dunn Stewart Reburn
Former coach	Howard Nicholson
Skating club	Oslo SK
Medal record Representing  Norway Ladies' Figure skating Olympic Games 1928 St. Moritz Singles 1932 Lake Placid Singles 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Singles World Championships 1927 Oslo Singles 1928 London Singles 1929 Budapest Singles 1930 New York Singles 1931 Berlin Singles 1932 Montreal Singles 1933 Stockholm Singles 1934 Oslo Singles 1935 Vienna Singles 1936 Paris Singles 1926 Stockholm Singles European Championships 1931 St. Moritz Singles 1932 Paris Singles 1933 London Singles 1934 Prague Singles 1935 St. Moritz Singles 1936 Berlin Singles

External image

Sonja Henie with her art collection in Los Angeles, 1964. Her collection is now held by the Henie-Onstad Art Centre.

Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in Ladies' Singles, a ten-time World Champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931–1936). Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. At the height of her acting career, she was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood and starred in a series of box-office hits, including Thin Ice (1937), My Lucky Star (1938), Second Fiddle (1939) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

Henie was born in 1912 in Kristiania (now Oslo) Norway; she was the only daughter of Wilhelm Henie (1872–1937), a prosperous Norwegian furrier, and his wife Selma Lochmann-Nielsen (1888–1961). In addition to the income from the fur business, both of Henie's parents had inherited wealth. Wilhelm Henie had been a one-time World Cycling Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at a young age. Henie initially showed talent at skiing, and then followed her older brother Leif to take up figure skating. As a girl, Henie was also a nationally ranked tennis player and a skilled swimmer and equestrienne. Once Henie began serious training as a figure skater, her formal schooling ended. She was educated by tutors, and her father hired the best experts in the world, including the famous Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, to transform his daughter into a sporting celebrity.