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Bodil Kjer

Bodil Kjer’s career did not follow the usual path of a film star. Born in Odense on 2 September 1917, she knew from childhood that she wanted to act, performing for her parents and their guests from the age of six. After briefly studying at Odense Theatre, she enrolled at the Royal Danish Theatre’s school in 1936 and made her theatrical debut the following year. Kjer’s film popularity grew during the 1940s and early 1950s through Elly Petersen, Jenny and the Soldier and Meet Me on Cassiopeia. The latter two brought her Bodil Awards, but after Meet Me on Cassiopeia she stepped away from film for 17 years. Rather than leaving acting, she concentrated on the stage, where much of her artistic development took place. Her theatre work ranged widely. During five seasons at Det Ny Teater, from 1955 to 1960, she appeared in productions including The Misanthrope, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Lady of the Camellias and The Taming of the Shrew. Returning to the Royal Theatre in 1960 as the leading woman of Danish theatre, she went on to play Lady Macbeth, Medea and Marthe in Goethe’s Faust. Kjer eventually returned to the screen, with later films including The Missing Clerk, Strømer and Babette’s Feast. Strømer earned her a third Bodil Award in 1977. She also worked as a voice actor and appeared on television, notably in Søskende, Bella and Bryggeren. Across a career spanning stage, film and television, Kjer repeatedly moved between popular screen work and demanding theatre roles. In 1997, the year she received both an honorary Bodil for lifetime achievement and the Rungstedlund Award, she continued performing in Love Letters with her former husband Ebbe Rode, marking six decades since her debut. She died in 2003.