Hilda Borgström
| Hilda Borgström | |
|---|---|
 Hilda Borgström in 1901 | |
| Born |
Hilda Teresia Borgström 13 October 1871 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Died |
2 January 1953 (aged 81) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1890–1951 |
Hilda Teresia Borgström (13 October 1871 – 2 January 1953) was a Swedish stage and film actress. Born in Stockholm, Borgström is considered one of Sweden's most legendary silent film actresses. She made her film debut in 1912. She starred in leading parts in Victor Sjöström's classic silent films Ingeborg Holm (aka Margaret Day) (1913) and Körkarlen (aka The Phantom Carriage/The Stroke of Midnight/Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness) in 1921. Borgström started out to be a dancer and trained at the old Royal Theatre's ballet school in Stockholm 1880-87. Later she decided to turn to the theatre instead and studied drama to become an actress. The professional debut on stage came in 1890 at one of Albert Ranft's theatres. She was an actress of Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), between 1900–1912 and 1920-1938. Here, alongside becoming a star on film, she made a number of remarkable and critically acclaimed performances.
She retired officially from stage in 1938 (due to having developed a case of severe stage fright), and turned back to filming. She appeared in several notable supporting parts in Swedish films in the 1930s-50s, for example in Ingmar Bergman's early 1948 film Music in Darkness, in the thriller Ett brott (A Crime) (1940) and in Kejsarn av Portugallien (The Emperor of Portugallia) (1944), based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf, and in a pair of films by Hasse Ekman such as Kungliga patrasket (The Royal Rabble) (1945) and Flickan från tredje raden (The Girl from the Third Row) (1949). Borgström was also a teacher in the performing arts at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school; Dramatens elevskola, in the 1930s-40s. Altogether she made some 80 parts on film.
She is today perhaps primarily known as the narrator in the short film Tomten - en vintersaga (The Tomte - A Winter's Tale) (1941), where she reads the poem Tomten by Viktor Rydberg. The film is shown at Christmas Eve every year on Swedish television.
She remained unmarried all her life. Had one daughter, Gertrud (she never revealed the name of her father).
Selected filmography
- Flickan från tredje raden (The Girl from the Third Row) (1949)
- Eva (1948)
- Music in Darkness (1948)
- Kungliga patrasket (The Royal Rabble) (1945)
- Torment (1944)
- Ett brott (A Crime) (1940)
- Körkarlen (1921)
- Judge Not (1914)
- Ingeborg Holm (Margaret Day) (1913)
- Lady Marion's Summer Flirtation (1913)
- A Ruined Life (1912)