German postcard by Sachsenstern-Zigarette in the series 'Berühmte Tänzerinnen und Tänzer'. Photo: Engadin Press, Samaden.
German postcard by Verlag Kunstanstalt Vorenberg, Berlin, no. 0932.
German postcard by B. Johannes (Beckert), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, no. 902. Caption: Sonja Henie at the IV Olympic Winter Games at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9126/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Schirner, Berlin.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1006/1, 1937-1938. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
A prominent skating champion
Sonja Henie was born on the 8th of April 1912 in Oslo, Norway. Her father, a wealthy fur wholesaler, had been a track cycling World Champion in 1894 and had competed in the 1896 European Speed Skating Championships. He saw to it that his two children, Leif and Sonja, would be deeply involved in sporting activities.
From an early age, Sonja showed outstanding skating skills and soon won a championship event for kids. Her parents strongly supported her and she was trained by ice-skating instructors to prepare her for becoming a champion. At the same time, she took ballet lessons, which would later prove to be very useful.
In 1923, she won her first national Championship of Norway, a feat she repeated six times, from 1924 to 1929. In 1924, she competed at the Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix but finished at the last place. She probably was too young to compete with much more experienced athletes but she would later take her revenge. For ten consecutive years, from 1927 to 1936, the 'Pavlova of the ice', as she was called, won the World Figure Skating Championships.
From 1931 to 1936, she also won the European Championships. In 1928, 1932 and 1936, she was awarded Gold Medals at the Olympic Games. Her impressive record of Championship trophies and Olympic Medals has never been equalled by any other skater. Sonja was the most influential and innovative female skater of her time. She incorporated graceful ballet movements into her skating, which made her stand out.
She allegedly was the first female skater to perform an Axel in competition and is credited with introducing short skirts and white skating shoes to her sport. Her fame helped to make skating more popular and trendy. During her championship career, she performed in skating exhibitions and there were rumours that her father was receiving huge fees to ensure his daughter’s appearances. Her official amateur status began to be questioned, although no sporting authorities ever dared to sanction her.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1355/1, 1937-1938. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Latvian postcard by EMBR, no. 2719. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1534/1, 1937-1938. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1720/1, 1937-1938. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie in Thin Ice (Sidney Lanfield, 1937).
Norwegian postcard by Enerett Brodr. Halvorsen, no. 22. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Sonja Henie in Thin Ice (Sidney Lanfield, 1937).
Turning professional and going to Hollywood
In 1936, in the U.S.A., Sonja Henie turned professional. She soon signed with entrepreneur Arthur Wirtz for a series of skating extravaganzas on stage. She made her debut in a very successful show at Madison Square Garden in March and then went on tour.
On the 7th and 9th of May of 1936, she gave two shows at the Polar Palace in Los Angeles, as she wanted movie producers to take an interest in her. Sonja had always dreamed of becoming a film star.
For the record, she had made a brief appearance, as a skater, in the Norwegian film, Syv dager for Elisabeth/Seven Days for Elizabeth (Leif Sinding, 1927).
Darryl Zanuck offered her a contract but soon realised that Sonja was an ambitious young girl with a shrewd business sense. She flatly refused to be used in a skating number guest spot and demanded to make her Hollywood debut in a starring part.
Henie also made sure that her contract would guarantee a limited filming schedule so she could go on tour with her lucrative ice shows. Faced with such determination, Zanuck had to comply but he didn’t regret it as her first 20th Century Fox movie, One in a Million (Sidney Lanfield, 1936) was a smash hit.
British postcard by Picturegoer, no. FS124. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Sonja Henie in Thin Ice (Sidney Lanfield, 1937). The film was released in England as Lovely to Look at.
German collector card by Ross Verlag. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
German collector card by Ross Verlag. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1846/2, 1937-1938. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1952/2, 1937-1938. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Movie star
In 1937, 1938 and 1939, Sonja Henie was on the list of the ten most popular stars at the U.S. box office and became one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She was cute and had an effervescent charm and personality which transferred well to the screen but her acting skills were quite limited. Anyway, 20th Century Fox knew that audiences were mainly attracted by Sonja’s impressive skating numbers and spared no expense in giving her fans what they wanted.
Her motion pictures were always given high production values: strong supporting casts, beautiful sets, inventive choreography, innovative techniques for her ice numbers, etc. In her second movie, Thin Ice (Sidney Lanfield, 1937), she co-starred with Tyrone Power, who was her lover at the time.
Happy Landing (Roy Del Ruth, 1938) and My Lucky Star (Roy Del Ruth, 1938) followed. Second Fiddle (Sidney Lanfield, 1939) reunited her with Tyrone Power but their affair was over at the time and he would marry Annabella in April 1939.
After Everything Happens at Night (Irving Cummings, 1939), she starred in Sun Vally Serenade (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941), which benefited from the novelty of seeing Sonja skating on black ice and from Glenn Miller Orchestra’s musical numbers.
Her 20th Century Fox contract ended with Iceland (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1942) and Wintertime (John Brahm, 1943). At that time, the relationship between Sonja and Zanuck had become tense. She then signed a two-picture deal with International Pictures and starred in It’s a Pleasure (William A. Seiter, 1945) and The Countess of Monte Cristo (Frederick De Cordova, 1948). The first one was released by R.K.O and the second by Universal.
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 2310.
French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques (EPC), no. 190. Photo: Fox - Europa Film.
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 3862. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2327/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Schostal / 20th Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2627/2, 1939-1940. Photo: Schostal. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
On stage
Since she had become professional in 1936, Sonja Henie had made a fortune by regularly appearing in lavish and hugely popular ice shows. As famous critic Richard Watts Jr. wrote in The New York Herald Tribune: "There is no entertainer in the world today who captures, holds and enraptures her audiences with more devastating conclusiveness".
At the beginning of the 1950s, she broke her business partnership with Arthur Wirtz and decided to produce her shows on her own. It was a mistake, as Wirtz had an enviable position in the sports world and had a monopoly on most of the major and best rinks in the U.S.A. Sonja’s shows had to play smaller and sometimes second-rate venues. Furthermore, an undaunted Wirtz had put on a new ice revue starring a younger skater, Olympic champion Barbara Ann Scott, which quite upset Sonja.
Without Wirtz’s guidance and expertise, the 1951-1952 season was a financial failure for her. Fortunately, Morris Chalfen, who, since 1945, was involved in the production ot the 'Holiday on Ice' shows, signed her for a 1953 European tour, which was a triumph. Sonja's career regained momentum and she continued to appear on stage over the next few years.
Sadly, things were going to take a bad turn when Chalfen arranged for her a South American tour in 1956, which was a flop. Venezuelan and Brazilian audiences’ reaction to Sonja’s skating numbers remained lukewarm, which she was not accustomed to. She allegedly had drinking problems at the time and it showed in her performances as, physically and mentally, she wasn’t in top form.
That unfortunate experience affected her and hastened her decision to give up ice shows. On the 6th of June 1956, she married Norwegian shipping magnate Niels Onstad. She had been previously married to Dan Topping from 1940 to 1946 and to Winthrop Gardiner from 1949 to 1956.
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 3943. Photo: 20the Century Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2934/1, 1939-1940. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
French postcard by Erpé, no. 655. Photo: Fox Film.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2793/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Schostal.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2934/2, 1939-1940. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
An ill-fated return to the screen
At the end of the 1950s, Sonja Henie returned to the screen. She backed Hello London (Sid Smith, 1958), which was a kind of pseudo-documentary / travelogue in which she and other well-known performers, such as Michael Wilding and Eunice Gayson, appeared as themselves.
Sonja had planned this film as the first of a series but it was never to be. Hello London (1958) only received a limited release and this was the last time audiences ever saw her on ice.
Her marriage to Niels Onstad opened a new chapter in Sonja’s life, as he introduced her to Modern Art. She quickly deepened her interest in that field. Until then, she had mostly bought Old Master’s paintings.
In 1961, the couple established the Sonja Henie and Niels Onstad Foundation. Its aim was to finance the building of a museum of Modern Art in Norway, to which they would donate their art collection, which included paintings by Picasso, Léger, Bonnard, Matisse, Alechinsky, etc.
The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (the Henie Onstad Art Center) was inaugurated with great fanfare in August 1968 by the King of Norway. Since its opening, the museum’s collection has continued to grow. The Art Center, located in Berum near Oslo, is today one of Norway’s leading institutions for the local and international art scene. An exhibition room in the museum is dedicated to Sonja, which displays her sporting trophies and some of her private objects.
Dutch postcard by Sparo. Sonja Henie and Rudy Vallee (miscaptioned as Bing Crosby) in Second Fiddle (Sidney Lanfield, 1939).
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, no. 24. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Possibly German or Austrian postcard. Illustration: Karl Rohe.
Dutch postcard by J.S.A.
French postcard by Editions Chantal, no. 587. Photo: Fox-Europa.
A comeback which would never happen
At the end of the 1960s, Sonja Henie envisioned a comeback in a special TV ice show, in which she would allegedly have skated to Dr. Zhivago’s 'Lara’s Theme', but she would never have the opportunity to do so.
In the last months of 1968, she was diagnosed with leukemia and died in her sleep, on a plane from Paris to Oslo, on the 12th of October 1969.
At the time of her death, Sonja Henie was considered one of the richest women in the world and notably had built up a fabulous collection of jewellery over the years.
American postcard.
Czech postcard by Ceskoslovenské filmové nakladatelstvi (CSFN), Prague, no. 87. Photo: M.P.E.A. / 20th Century Fox.
Spanish postcard, no. 113.
Dutch postcard by MPEA. Photo: R.K.O.
Belgian postcard by Fotoprim, Bruxelles, no. 28. Photo: Universal International.
Text and postcards: Marlène Pilaete.
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