Helen Gammeltoft
Vintage Swedish postcard. Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, 1688.
Helen/ Helene Gammeltoft (1895-?) was an Danish-American actress and scriptwriter.
Born 26/3 1895 in Syracuse, America, as Inger Madden or Madsen, she made her debut in film in Britain according to IDMb, in the 1913 film The Eleventh Commandment, and under the name of Helena Callen. The film was also the debut of the popular British stage star Gladys Cooper. The next year, she moved to Denmark, where she debuted at Nordisk Film in August Blom's comedy Bytte Roller/ The Girl of his Heart (1914), starring opposite Nicolai Johannsen as millionnaire Thomas Grey and Frederik Buch as his cook.
In 1915, Gammeltoft had leads or important supporting parts in five films at Nordisk: Hans Kusine/ His Cousin (Lau Lauritzen sr.) with Peter Jørgensen, En Død i Skønhed/ Beatrix (Robert Dinesen) with Rita Sacchetto, Olaf Fönss and Nicolai Johannsen, Susanne i Badet (Lau Lauritzen) with Oscar Stribolt, Kærlighed og Mobilisering/ Put me amongst the Girls (Lauritzen) with Frederik Buch, and Den lille Chauffør (August Blom) with Nicolai Johannsen. In 1916 Gammeltoft acted in four films at Nordisk, while in 1917 she acted in six and in 1918 in five films - mostly in the role of 'the pretty girl'. Yet, from 1916 Gammeltoft developed as screenwriter too, writing comedies for Buch, Stribolt, Rasmus Christiansen and others, starting with Den ædle Skrædder (Lauritzen, 1916) and En landlig Uskyldighed (Lauritzen, 1916) - she had the lead in the latter comedy.
In 1917-1918 Gammeltoft was most prolific as both actress and screenwriter, mostly in short comedies. She appeared in a small number of 'serious' feature films (e.g. En Lykkeper, Gunnar Sommerfeldt 1918, starring Carlo Wieth) and made just a few films outside Nordisk's direction, Hjerteknuseren (Carl Barcklind, 1919) for Skandinavisk Filmcentral, and Dommens Dag (Fritz Magnussen, 1918) for Olaf Fønss' company Dansk Film Co. After 1918, Gammeltoft's peak as actress and scriptwriter was over, while she did two films in 1919, and the three last films in 1920. In 1920 Lauritzen, who had worked at Nordisk for years, started his own firm Palladium, with which he launched in 1921 the popular comic duo of Long and Short/ Pat & Patachon/ Fy och By, with tall Carl Schenström and short Harald Madsen. Incidentally, Schenström had already played in the comedies by Lauritzen and Gammeltoft at Nordisk.
Sources: IMDb, www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/person/helen-gamme..., Danish Wikipedia.
Helen Gammeltoft
Vintage Swedish postcard. Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, 1688.
Helen/ Helene Gammeltoft (1895-?) was an Danish-American actress and scriptwriter.
Born 26/3 1895 in Syracuse, America, as Inger Madden or Madsen, she made her debut in film in Britain according to IDMb, in the 1913 film The Eleventh Commandment, and under the name of Helena Callen. The film was also the debut of the popular British stage star Gladys Cooper. The next year, she moved to Denmark, where she debuted at Nordisk Film in August Blom's comedy Bytte Roller/ The Girl of his Heart (1914), starring opposite Nicolai Johannsen as millionnaire Thomas Grey and Frederik Buch as his cook.
In 1915, Gammeltoft had leads or important supporting parts in five films at Nordisk: Hans Kusine/ His Cousin (Lau Lauritzen sr.) with Peter Jørgensen, En Død i Skønhed/ Beatrix (Robert Dinesen) with Rita Sacchetto, Olaf Fönss and Nicolai Johannsen, Susanne i Badet (Lau Lauritzen) with Oscar Stribolt, Kærlighed og Mobilisering/ Put me amongst the Girls (Lauritzen) with Frederik Buch, and Den lille Chauffør (August Blom) with Nicolai Johannsen. In 1916 Gammeltoft acted in four films at Nordisk, while in 1917 she acted in six and in 1918 in five films - mostly in the role of 'the pretty girl'. Yet, from 1916 Gammeltoft developed as screenwriter too, writing comedies for Buch, Stribolt, Rasmus Christiansen and others, starting with Den ædle Skrædder (Lauritzen, 1916) and En landlig Uskyldighed (Lauritzen, 1916) - she had the lead in the latter comedy.
In 1917-1918 Gammeltoft was most prolific as both actress and screenwriter, mostly in short comedies. She appeared in a small number of 'serious' feature films (e.g. En Lykkeper, Gunnar Sommerfeldt 1918, starring Carlo Wieth) and made just a few films outside Nordisk's direction, Hjerteknuseren (Carl Barcklind, 1919) for Skandinavisk Filmcentral, and Dommens Dag (Fritz Magnussen, 1918) for Olaf Fønss' company Dansk Film Co. After 1918, Gammeltoft's peak as actress and scriptwriter was over, while she did two films in 1919, and the three last films in 1920. In 1920 Lauritzen, who had worked at Nordisk for years, started his own firm Palladium, with which he launched in 1921 the popular comic duo of Long and Short/ Pat & Patachon/ Fy och By, with tall Carl Schenström and short Harald Madsen. Incidentally, Schenström had already played in the comedies by Lauritzen and Gammeltoft at Nordisk.
Sources: IMDb, www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/person/helen-gamme..., Danish Wikipedia.