Sonja Henie Biography

Dancer, skater and actress Sonja Henie received her first pair of ice skates for her sixth birthday.

A great all-around athlete at school, Henie competed in tennis, swimming, and skiing. After studying ballet under Pavlova, she took up figure skating as her main concern.

Glamorous, graceful and a technical virtuoso, she helped turn figure skating into a spectator sport. Central to her tremendous success was her inspired importing of balletic techniques into the sport.

Winning the Norwegian championship, aged ten, Henie went on to compete in her first Winter Olympics only two years later. After finishing second in the world championships in 1915, she then held the title for ten years straight, from 1927 through 1936. Along the way, she won Olympic titles in 1928, 1932 and 1936.

Retiring in 1936, Henie proved adept at her second and third careers as businesswoman and performer.

Becoming a US citizen, she travelled widely with her Hollywood Ice Revue. After appearing in several Twentieth-Century-Fox films, including 'One In A Million' in 1936,she began to amass a considerable fortune. A formidable businesswoman, her personal fortune was more than $47 million on her death.

Retiring in 1960, she moved back to Norway with a third husband. She became a prolific art collector, founding a museum of impressionist and post-impressionist art.

She died of leukaemia on the 12th October 1969, aboard an ambulance plane in transit from Paris to Oslo.