Simo Salminen
| Simo Salminen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
8 November 1932 Vanaja, Finland |
Simo Salminen (born 8 November 1932, Vanaja) is a Finnish comic-actor best known for his many performances in movies and television shows by Spede Pasanen. He, Vesa-Matti Loiri and Pasanen himself are the three important players in almost all of Spede's productions. He frequently plays a supporting or at the very least a relevant secondary character in many of Spede's films, usually the bungling assistant to the main character (often portrayed by Pasanen). His characters are frequently named after Simo (such as in Pähkähullu Suomi, Koeputkiaikuinen ja Simon enkelit).
He is best recognised in the role of the luckless mechanic Sörselssön in the Uuno Turhapuro series of films who works at an auto-repair shop with the foul-mouthed Härski Hartikainen (Pasanen).
Prior to becoming one of Spede's regular actors he was the Clown Water-jump champion of Finland.
Salminen's company took a loan denominated in foreign currency before the devaluations of Finnish markka in the early 1990s. As a result of the devaluations and the recession, the company went bankrupt, forcing Salminen himself into insolvency himself. As the Finnish legal system does not recognize personal bankruptcy, even a part of his pension still continues to be deducted for this intractable debt. In addition he has had bouts of serious illness and has lost his home in Espoo in a fire. Currently he lives in a retirement home near Turku.