La Collectionneuse: Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie had been an outstanding skating champion, a popular performer of ice shows, a movie star and an art collector. Her career was marked by her ambition, determination, strong drive, boldness and professionalism. The ice fairy, who was a forerunner, first in her sport, then in the entertainment world, was an undisputed queen in her field and amassed a considerable fortune over the years.


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.

Sonja Henie

Petite and glamorous Sonja Henie (1912-1969) was one of the greatest figure skaters in history, the ‘Pavlova of the ice’. She won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. At the height of her acting career, the Norwegian figure skater and film star was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. She had a shrewd business sense and was immensely successful next with a series of ice revues.

 
French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques (EPC), no. 21. Photo: Fox Film.


Dutch Postcard by J.S.A. Photo: Columbia F.B. / M.P.E.


British postcard by Colourgraph, London, no. C376. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Sonja Henie in Everything Happens at Night (Irving Cummings, 1939).

Three Olympic gold medals

Sonja Henie was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway in 1912. She was the only daughter of Wilhelm Henie, a Norwegian fur wholesaler and his wife Selma Lochmann-Nielsen. 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.

As a girl, Henie was ranked Norway's third-best tennis player, and she was also a skilled swimmer and equestrienne. She initially showed talent at skiing and then followed her older brother Leif to take up figure skating. She received her first skates from her father on the Christmas after her sixth birthday. Once Henie began to train seriously as a figure skater, her formal schooling ended.

She was educated by tutors, and her father hired the best experts in the world to transform his daughter into a sporting celebrity. She studied ballet with Tamara Karsavina a former teacher of Anna Pavlova, and eventually, she combined skating and ballet on ice. She won the children's figure skating championship in Oslo when she was 8, and two years later, in 1923, she won the figure skating championship in Norway. She then placed eighth in a field of eight at the 1924 Winter Olympics, at the age of eleven.

Henie won the first of an unprecedented ten consecutive World Figure Skating Championships in 1927 at the age of fourteen. That year she also made her film debut with a small part in the romantic comedy Syv dager for Elisabeth/Seven Days for Elizabeth (Leif Sinding, 1927). Henie went on to win the first of her three Olympic gold medals the following year. She defended her Olympic titles in 1932 and 1936, and her World titles annually until 1936. She also won six consecutive European championships from 1931 to 1936. Henie's unprecedented three Olympic gold medals haven't been matched by any ladies single skater since; neither are her achievements as a ten-time consecutive World Champion.

Henie was the first figure skater to adopt the short skirt costume in figure skating, wear white boots, and make use of dance choreography. Henie also had great spinning ability. She incorporated 19 different spins into her programs, and she could spin nearly 80 revolutions. Her innovative skating techniques and glamorous demeanour transformed the sport permanently and confirmed its acceptance as a legitimate sport in the Winter Olympics. Towards the end of her career, she began to be strongly challenged by younger skaters. However, she held off the competition and went on to win her third Olympic title at the 1936 Winter Olympics. Henie travelled widely and was much in demand as a performer at figure skating exhibitions in both Europe and North America. She became so popular that police had to be called out for crowd control on her appearances in various cities.


British cigarette card in the Film & Stage Beauties series by Carreras LTD, Arcadia Works, London, no. 16. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.


German collectors card in the series E - Filmstars der Welt 2. Band by Greilings-sammelbilder, no. 162. Photo: Hamann / Meyerpress.


British Postcard by Real Photograph, no. FS 166. Photo: 20th Century-Fox Pictures. Publicity still for Happy Landing (Roy del Ruth, 1938).

Lavish costumes and spectacular routines

After the 1936 World Figure Skating Championships, Sonja Henie gave up her amateur status and took up a career as a professional performer in acting and live shows. As a girl, Henie had decided to try to become a movie star when her competitive days were over. In 1936, following a successful ice show in Los Angeles orchestrated by her father to launch her film career, Hollywood studio chief Darryl Zanuck signed her to a long-term contract at Twentieth Century Fox.

It made her one of the highest-paid actresses of the time. Her first film, One in a Million (Sidney Lanfield, 1936) with Adolphe Menjou, was a box-office smash. She continued to make profitable light comedies throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s. Each film had several ice skating sequences. These films included Thin Ice (Sidney Lanfield, 1937) with Tyrone Power, Second Fiddle (Sidney Lanfield, 1939) again with Power, and Sun Valley Serenade (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1941) with John Payne and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Henie became increasingly demanding in her business dealings with Zanuck and insisted on having total control of the skating numbers in her films. In addition to her film career at Fox, Henie formed a business arrangement with Arthur Wirtz, who produced her touring ice shows under the name of ‘Hollywood Ice Revue’. Wirtz also acted as Henie's financial advisor. At the time, figure skating and ice shows were not yet an established form of entertainment in the United States. Henie's popularity as a film actress attracted many new fans and instituted skating shows as a popular new entertainment.

Throughout the 1940s, Henie and Wirtz produced ice skating musicals with lavish costumes and spectacular routines at Madison Square Garden, attracting millions of ticket buyers. At the height of her fame, her shows and touring activities brought Henie as much as $2 million per year. She also had numerous lucrative endorsement contracts and deals to market skates, clothing, jewellery, dolls, and other merchandise branded with her name. These activities made her one of the wealthiest women in the world in her time. In 1948 she made her last film, The Countess of Monte Cristo (Frederick De Cordova, 1948).

Henie broke off her arrangement with Wirtz in 1950 and for the next three seasons produced her own tours under the name ‘Sonja Henie Ice Revue’. It was an ill-advised decision to set herself up in competition with Wirtz, whose shows now featured the new Olympic champion, Barbara Ann Scott. Since Wirtz controlled the best arenas and dates, Henie was left playing smaller venues and markets already saturated by other touring ice shows such as 'Ice Capades'. The collapse of a section of bleachers during a show in Baltimore in 1952 compounded the tour's legal and financial woes. In 1953 Henie formed a new partnership with Morris Chalfen to appear in his European Holiday On Ice tour. This was a great success. She produced her own show at New York's Roxy Theatre in January 1956. However, a subsequent South American tour in 1956 was a disaster. Henie was drinking heavily at that time and could no longer keep up with the demands of touring, and this marked her retirement from skating.


French postcard, no. 725. Photo: Fox Film.


British postcard by Real Photograph, no. 132. Photo: 20th Century-Fox Pictures.


Dutch postcard by MPEA. Photo: R.K.O. Collection: Marlène Pilaete.

Nazi salute

Sonja Henie's connections with Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi officials made her the subject of controversy. During her amateur skating career, she performed often in Germany and was a favourite of German audiences as well as of Hitler personally. As a wealthy celebrity, she moved in the same social circles as royalty and heads of state and made Hitler's acquaintance as a matter of course.

Controversy appeared first when Henie greeted Hitler with a Nazi salute during an exhibition in Berlin sometime before the 1936 Winter Olympics; she was strongly denounced by the Norwegian press. She did not repeat the salute at the Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but after the Games, she accepted an invitation to lunch with Hitler at his resort home in nearby Berchtesgaden. Hitler presented Henie with an autographed photo with a lengthy inscription.

After beginning her film career, Henie kept up her Nazi connections, for example personally arranging with Joseph Goebbels for the release of her first film, One in a Million, in Germany. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, German troops saw Hitler's autographed photo prominently displayed in the Henie family home. As a result, none of Henie's properties in Norway were confiscated or damaged by the Germans. Henie became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 1941. Like many Hollywood stars, she supported the U.S. war effort through USO and similar activities, but she was careful to avoid supporting the Norwegian resistance movement or making public statements against the Nazis. For this, she was condemned by many Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans.

After the war, Henie was mindful that many of her countrymen considered her to be a quisling. However, she made a triumphant return to Norway with the Holiday on Ice tour in 1953 and 1955. Her autobiography 'Mitt livs eventyr' (Wings on My Feet) (1938-1940) was republished in a revised edition in 1954. Henie was married three times, to Dan Topping (1940-1946), Winthrop Gardiner Jr. (1949-1956) and the wealthy Norwegian shipping magnate and art patron, Niels Onstad (1956-1969). After her retirement in 1956, Henie and Onstad (nicknamed ‘the Onassis of Norway’) settled in Oslo and accumulated a large collection of modern art. In 1968 they opened the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (Henie-Onstad Art Centre) at Høvikodden, about 10 km from Oslo.

At the time of her death, Sonja Henie was planning a comeback for a television special that would have aired in January 1970. In the mid-1960s, Henie was diagnosed with leukaemia. She died of the disease in 1969 during a flight from Paris to Oslo. She was 57, and one of the ten wealthiest women in the world when she died. Sonja Henie is buried with her husband in Oslo on the hilltop overlooking the Henie-Onstad Art Centre. After her death her brother Leif published with Raymond Strait the biography 'Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie' (1990). According to her brother, Henie was obsessed with money and sex, had a vile temper when crossed, and used her family and others shamelessly to advance her own ends. However, Henie was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame (1976) and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame (1982), and the signature of her ice skate blades adorns the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.


Dutch Postcard, no. 3171.


French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 261. Photo: 20th Century Fox.


Belgian postcard by Fotoprim, Bruxelles, no. 28. Photo: Universal International. Collection: Marlène Pilaete.

Sources: Jone Johnson Lewis (Women’s History Guide - now defunct), Tony Fontana (IMDb), The New York Times (page now defunct), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 6 September 2024.