Her father was a wholesale fur merchant and former bicycle champion. Comments are moderated. Furthermore, he was also a social activist. The second child of Wilhelm and Selma Henie was born in a snowstorm. Neils Onstad was a Billionaire shipping magnate when they married. The couple traveled the world and socialized. She has starred in movies such as Thin Ice, Happy Landing, and Second Fiddle. Theres an elevator that connects all floors, motion-detection lighting throughout and a central heating and cooling system thats been wrapped in soundproof materials for quiet. One of the most popular villa living rooms was originally Henies home. She was called the Nasturtium of the North, the Ice Queen of Norway, the White Swan, and, less flatteringly, Little Miss Moneybags. Her surname rhymes with penny, so perhaps its no surprise that she counted every last one. Or, perhaps it was the other way around: the movies brought the masses to the shows. 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. Not to be confused with American basketball player, 1936 European Figure Skating Championships, "Cecilia Colledge: Champion figure skater", "AFI's 100 Years 100 Stars America's Greatest Legends", "Nektet pne festspill hvis Flagstad skulle synge", "International Women's Sports Hall of Fame", "Sonja Henie Joins 508th Regt. first pair of ice skates when she was six. Furthermore, aside from her career as a figure skater, Henie also had a successful film career. June 6, 1956 - October 12, 1969 (her death). Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. [6] Happy Landing (1938) was her biggest box office hit. Smiling, spinning, she was giving the world exactly what it wanted. Henie passed away at the age of 57 from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In the gymnastic events, Nadia earned a total of three gold medals and seven perfect scores. Required fields are marked *, Bird Box is one of the most popular American films. Those who knew her say that Tyrone Power was the one. There are large windows surrounding the home to allow for natural light. Together, she and Onstad built a superb collection of modern artPicasso, Matisse, Bonnard, Mir, Villon, Rouault. Additionally, there have been many rumors that her ghost still haunts her home to this day. He would take a chance on something that wasnt conventional.. The 1936 European Figure Skating Championships also took place in Berlin and neither Henie, Colledge, nor Megan Taylor paid obeisance to Hitler.[10]. She was an opportunist . Some of the Norwegians had to come back twice. Her movies, so many of them nestled in frosty-paned Mitteleuropa mountain resorts, were an alternate universe made of powdered sugaran antidote to Europes ominous rumbling toward war. Where Did Sonja Henie Live? Her illness had been a well-kept secret. [2][15] She is buried with Onstad in Oslo on the hilltop overlooking the Henie Onstad Art Centre. We post on luxury real estate and celebrity homes on our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube. I dont think she could have cared less who Hitler was, except for whatever power he had and what it would do for her career.. Active on Broadway in the following productions: In 1940, when the Nazis invaded Norway, she was out of the country. Indeed, the word that really fit this bundle of cutting-edge charisma would not be coined until the 1960s, when Andy Warhol packed star wattage and have-it-all hunger into three syllables: superstar. Sonja Henie was the first. What began as film star and Olympic figure skater Sonja Henies estate in the 1940s has been preserved and developed into a hidden gem where celebrities, Palm Springs residents, and visitors alike have found a private getaway to relax in the warm desert weather. Choose your favorite sonja henie designs and purchase them as wall art, home decor, phone cases, tote bags, and more! For Sonja, the year 1936 was like winning the lottery. She won the children's figure skating championship of Oslo when she was 8, and two years later, in 1923, she won the figure skating championship of Norway. The dramatic foyer 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). Subscribe now and get up to 61% off the cover price. Henie passed away at the age of 57 from, . Subscribe for free weekly updates from this Paranormal site. . If comment does not pertain to post it will not be published. At the time of her death, Henie was planning a comeback for a television special that would have aired in January 1970. Now I arrive at the Garden at 6:45 and I never stop until 11:10. Outside, the exterior is clad in hand-honed granite with custom gutters and bronze windows trimmed in limestone. Husbands aside, for Little Miss Moneybags, the 1940s were glitter and gold. [2] Photo: Chris Meech. "Sonja Henie's tutu!" . She put figure skating on the map and got everyone heading for the ice. Henie became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1940. All rights reserved. Henie's unprecedented three Olympic gold medals have not been matched by any ladies' single skater since, nor have her achievements as ten-time consecutive World champion. It was her only film shot in Technicolor, but it was not as huge at the box office as her other films and also proved her limitations as a dramatic actress in her only dramatic film. These activities made her one of the wealthiest self-made women in the world in her time. She was my idol, says Boots Beyer, an adagio skater in the team Narena & Norris. In this edition of the Old Hollywood Book Club, Julie Andrews pulls back the curtain on her life. It sits on 5 acres and has a sweeping circular drive, grand staircase, swimming pool, and tennis courts. Skating Champion. Miss Henie had been suffering from. She was very sad. She once called Eddie Pec, the only person she permitted to sharpen her skates, in New York, to ask him to come to Chicago, where her show was to open. The Henie-Onstad Art Center opened with royal fanfare on August 23, 1968. She grew up in Norway and was a dominant presence on the ice for decades, her grace and lyricism captured in newsreels. Not long after the center's lavish opening celebration, Henie was diagnosed with leukemia. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. She had become an American citizen in 1941. Sister of Leif Henie. Villa Royale Inn, located in the heart of South Palm Springs, embodies the history and ambiance of the desert. She was very good to everybody., Boots Beyer: I will never say anything bad about Sonja. Former Los Angeles Times reporter Neal J. Leitereg covered celebrity real estate for the Business section. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Sonja retired in May 1956, and in June she married the Norwegian shipowner Niels Onstad, a childhood friend of the family whom she had secretly been seeing. One unique item Henie had built in the home was an ice rink upstairs in the homes attic. There's a lot of interesting things about it, but it feels like they had no idea . Ingrid Sacerio and Gail Steinberg of Dilbeck Real Estate repped Stevens in the sale. I saw Sonjas first movie, One in a Million, and said to myself, Thats what I want to do. Founded by the world-famous figure skater Sonja Henie and her husband Niels Onstad in the 1960s, . Hromszor nyert olimpiai aranyat ( 1928, 1932, 1936 ), tzszer vilgbajnoksgot (1927-1936) s hatszor Eurpa-bajnoksgot (1931-1936). Sonja was visionary in that she saw what the audience for figure skating could be, says Edward Z. Epstein, an author and playwright who worked with Universal Pictures for many years and was a competitive skater in his teens. 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. She had a lovely, Astaire-like lan on the ice. Miss Henie was an exacting star. She said her greatest hope was to become a movie star, and she soon did. It was ridiculous. But she just up and took off like a bird., Sonja may not have been a Ziegfeld beauty, and as an actress, well, she was one of the few female stars in Hollywood not tested for the role of Scarlett OHara. Desert Publications Inc. 303 N. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs California 92262. (Jon Peters thinks she knew the truth: She knew every dime, she knew every jewel, she knew every wig, she knew every painting. The 77-year-old Stevens gained fame as the character Cricket in the 1960s television series Hawaiian Eye. Among her other TV credits are 77 Sunset Strip, Wendy and Me and Loves Savage Fury., What to know about the real estate market in Beverly Hills, Former Twins slugger Jason Kubel catches a buyer in Calabasas, Home of the Day: Life on a grand scale in Pacific Palisades. . To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. At the time, figure skating and ice shows were not yet an established form of entertainment in the United States. Her husband, Neils Onstad, a Norwegian shipowner, said she "just slept away" halfway through the two-hour flight. The daughter of a fur wholesaler in Norway, Sonja Henie received her Photo: Carlos Marques, Marcott Studios, The music room She herself earned over $200,000 from her film work alone in 1937. During the shooting of Second Fiddle (1939), she greeted the then Crown-Prince couple of Norway Olav and Mrtha during their US tour. Enjoy this week's offering from the 'Car Talk Folklore Dissemination . This magnificent Paul Williams estate, originally built for Sonja Henie in 1939, has been the home of iconic actress/entertainer, business woman and philanthropist, Connie Stevens, for the past 34 years. Hun var datter af Selma Lochmann-Nielsen ( 1888 - 1961) og Wilhelm Henie ( 1872 - 1937 ). Plus, get the exclusive Robb Report tote bag FREE. Whichever way you look at it, the synergy, like Henie, was irresistible. *. Geothermal heating is included, as is a separate generator that can power the house at full capacity for seven days. 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