Ada van Ehlers
German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 1872. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.
Ada Kramm (née Ada Egede-Nissen, 14 March 1899 – 17 December 1981) was a Norwegian stage and film actress whose career spanned more than six decades. In the late 1910s, she acted in German films as Ada van Ehlers.
Born Ada Egede-Nissen in Vardø, Finnmark, Norway, her parents were the Norwegian politician Adam Egede-Nissen (1868–1952) and Georga ("Goggi") Wilhelma Ellertsen (1871–1959). She had ten siblings; six of her siblings, Aud Egede-Nissen (1893–1974), Gerd Grieg (1895–1988), Oscar Egede-Nissen (1903–1976), Stig Egede-Nissen (1907–1988), Lill Egede-Nissen (1909–1962) and Gøril Havrevold (1914–1992), all became stage and film actors. When she was eleven years old, the family moved to Stavanger, where she began studying at the Stavanger Faste Scene (Stavanger Fixed Scene) theatre. She made her stage début in 1916 in Selma Lagerlöf's Dunungen.
In 1917, Kramm accompanied her two older sisters Aud and Gerd to Berlin, Germany where the three young women opened a small film production and distribution company called the Egede-Nissen Film Company (ENF). The trio used the studio to promote themselves in film roles directed by Georg Alexander from 1917 until 1920. Kramm appeared in a number of crime serials as the character Ada van Ehlers beginning in 1917, e.g. Ein Detektiv-Duell (Alexander, 1917), Verkauftes Glück (Alexander, 1918), and Erblich belastet (1919). All in all she starred in eight films by Alexander, almost always with Alexander himself in the male lead. In 1920 she married German violinist Hugo Kramm and began using her married name as a professional moniker and the young newly-weds returned to Norway. They later had a daughter together, actress Ilse Kramm (born 1934).
From 1921 until 1924 Kramm appeared at the Bergen and Den Nationale Scene. After her husband joined the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1924 they moved to Oslo and she worked at Det Nye Teater (The New Theatre) from 1925 until 1928, the Centralteatret (Central Theatre) from 1928 to 1934 and later at the Nationaltheatret (National Theatre). She also returned to film, and appeared in roles in the 1928 Norwegian-German coproduction of Schneeschuhbanditen/ Snowshoe Bandits (dir. Uwe Jens Krafft) opposite her sister Aud and Austrian actor Paul Richter and the 1930 film Eskimo (dir. George Schnéevoigt), opposite Mona Mårtenson and again Paul Richter. The later film was the first Norwegian sound film spoken in Norwegian, even if a Danish-Norwegian co-production. In 1932 a German version of Eskimo was released as Der weiße Gott, while also a French version was made.
Kramm spent the next several decades on Norwegian stages in productions by Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. At age 72 she appeared in the role of Aunt Julie in Hedda Gabler on a tour of Japan. After over six decades on stage, she went into semi-retirement and occasionally made appearances on Norwegian television. Her last role before her death was in the 1979 Anja Breien-directed, Palme d'Or nominated dramatic film Arven (Heritage) with Espen Skjønberg, Anita Björk and Jan Hårstad. Ada Kramm died on 17 December 1981 in Oslo at age eighty-two and was buried in the Vestre gravlund cemetery.
Sources: English Wikipedia, IMDb. Filmportal.
Ada van Ehlers
German postcard by Photochemie, no. K. 1872. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.
Ada Kramm (née Ada Egede-Nissen, 14 March 1899 – 17 December 1981) was a Norwegian stage and film actress whose career spanned more than six decades. In the late 1910s, she acted in German films as Ada van Ehlers.
Born Ada Egede-Nissen in Vardø, Finnmark, Norway, her parents were the Norwegian politician Adam Egede-Nissen (1868–1952) and Georga ("Goggi") Wilhelma Ellertsen (1871–1959). She had ten siblings; six of her siblings, Aud Egede-Nissen (1893–1974), Gerd Grieg (1895–1988), Oscar Egede-Nissen (1903–1976), Stig Egede-Nissen (1907–1988), Lill Egede-Nissen (1909–1962) and Gøril Havrevold (1914–1992), all became stage and film actors. When she was eleven years old, the family moved to Stavanger, where she began studying at the Stavanger Faste Scene (Stavanger Fixed Scene) theatre. She made her stage début in 1916 in Selma Lagerlöf's Dunungen.
In 1917, Kramm accompanied her two older sisters Aud and Gerd to Berlin, Germany where the three young women opened a small film production and distribution company called the Egede-Nissen Film Company (ENF). The trio used the studio to promote themselves in film roles directed by Georg Alexander from 1917 until 1920. Kramm appeared in a number of crime serials as the character Ada van Ehlers beginning in 1917, e.g. Ein Detektiv-Duell (Alexander, 1917), Verkauftes Glück (Alexander, 1918), and Erblich belastet (1919). All in all she starred in eight films by Alexander, almost always with Alexander himself in the male lead. In 1920 she married German violinist Hugo Kramm and began using her married name as a professional moniker and the young newly-weds returned to Norway. They later had a daughter together, actress Ilse Kramm (born 1934).
From 1921 until 1924 Kramm appeared at the Bergen and Den Nationale Scene. After her husband joined the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1924 they moved to Oslo and she worked at Det Nye Teater (The New Theatre) from 1925 until 1928, the Centralteatret (Central Theatre) from 1928 to 1934 and later at the Nationaltheatret (National Theatre). She also returned to film, and appeared in roles in the 1928 Norwegian-German coproduction of Schneeschuhbanditen/ Snowshoe Bandits (dir. Uwe Jens Krafft) opposite her sister Aud and Austrian actor Paul Richter and the 1930 film Eskimo (dir. George Schnéevoigt), opposite Mona Mårtenson and again Paul Richter. The later film was the first Norwegian sound film spoken in Norwegian, even if a Danish-Norwegian co-production. In 1932 a German version of Eskimo was released as Der weiße Gott, while also a French version was made.
Kramm spent the next several decades on Norwegian stages in productions by Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. At age 72 she appeared in the role of Aunt Julie in Hedda Gabler on a tour of Japan. After over six decades on stage, she went into semi-retirement and occasionally made appearances on Norwegian television. Her last role before her death was in the 1979 Anja Breien-directed, Palme d'Or nominated dramatic film Arven (Heritage) with Espen Skjønberg, Anita Björk and Jan Hårstad. Ada Kramm died on 17 December 1981 in Oslo at age eighty-two and was buried in the Vestre gravlund cemetery.
Sources: English Wikipedia, IMDb. Filmportal.