{{Short description|Danish-Icelandic actress and autobiographer (1903–1963)}} {{Infobox person | name = Anna Borg | birth_name = Anna Guðmundína Guðrún Borgþórsdóttir | birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|07|30|df=y}} | birth_place = Reykjavík, Iceland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|04|14|1903|07|30|df=y}} | death_place = Nesøya, Akershus, Norway | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1912–1963 | relatives = {{ill|Stefanía Guðmundsdóttir|is|Stefanía Guðmundsdóttir}} (mother) | spouse = {{marriage|Poul Reumert|1932}} | children = 2 | awards = Ingenio et arti<br />Tagea Brandt Rejselegat<br />{{ill|Läkerol's Culture Award|no|Läkerols kulturpris|sv|Läkerols kulturpris}}<br />{{ill|Teaterkatten|da|Teaterkatten}} }} '''Anna Guðmundína Guðrún Borg''' ({{nee|Borgþórsdóttir}}; 30 July 1903 – 14 April 1963) was a Danish-Icelandic actress of stage and screen and autobiographer. The daughter of the Icelandic actress {{ill|Stefanía Guðmundsdóttir|is|Stefanía Guðmundsdóttir}}, she grew up in a household where theatre was part of her daily life and began acting at age nine. Borg joined the Royal Danish Theatre in 1928, portraying strong and pure female characters, and also performed in the {{ill|Dagmar Theatre|da|Dagmarteatret|no|Dagmarteatret|sv|Dagmarteatern}} and the National Theatre of Iceland. She and 11 other people were killed in an aeroplane accident near Oslo in April 1963 and her memoirs were published posthumously the following year. Borg was a recipient of the Ingenio et arti theatre award, the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat, the {{ill|Läkerol's Culture Award|no|Läkerols kulturpris|sv|Läkerols kulturpris}} and the {{ill|Teaterkatten|da|Teaterkatten}}.
==Early life and education== Borg was born on 30 July 1903 in Reykjavík, Iceland,<ref name=DBLEntry>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Kragh-Jacobsen|first=Svend|title=Anna Borg|url=https://biografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|encyclopedia=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon|language=da|date=17 July 2011|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803205646/https://biografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|archive-date=3 August 2021}}</ref><ref name=SNLEntry>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Larsen|first=Svend Erik Løken |title=Anna Borg|url=https://snl.no/Anna_Borg|encyclopedia=Great Norwegian Encyclopedia|language=no|date=4 June 2021|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20221030080129/https://snl.no/Anna_Borg|archive-date=30 October 2022}}</ref> the fourth child of the actress {{ill|Stefanía Guðmundsdóttir|is|Stefanía Guðmundsdóttir}} and the barrister Borgthór Jósefsson.<ref name=StefaníusjóðurBio>{{cite web|last=Jonsson|first=Jon Vidar|title=Poul Reumert and Anna Borg|trans-title=Poul Reumert og Anna Borg|url=http://stefaniusjodur.is/index.php?m=&id=M_POUL_ANNA|publisher=Stefaníusjóður|language=is|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405104917/http://stefaniusjodur.is/index.php?m=&id=M_POUL_ANNA|archive-date=5 April 2022}}</ref><ref name=KVINFOEntry>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Wiingaard|first=Jytte|title=Anna Borg|url=https://kvindebiografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|encyclopedia=Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon|language=da|date=20 October 2022|orig-date=2001|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030075939/https://kvindebiografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|archive-date=30 October 2022}}</ref> As was the case with many children of actors in Iðnó,<ref name=StefaníusjóðurBio/> she was raised in a household where the theatre was part of her day-to-day life.<ref name=DBLEntry/> Because Borg could not receive an education in theatre in Reykjavík, she was sent to Copenhagen to study at the {{ill|Det Kongelige Teaters elevskole|da|Det Kongelige Teaters elevskole|no|Det Kongelige Teaters Elevskole}} at the request of the theatre director {{ill|Adam Poulsen|da|Adam Poulsen|es|Adam Poulsen|sv|Adam Poulsen}} and was educated by the actor Poul Reumert.<ref name=KVINFOEntry/> She initially struggled with speaking Danish but was offered further schooling because of her talent.<ref name=DBLEntry/> Borg graduated from the theatre in 1928,<ref name=GyldendalsBio>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Wiingaard|first=Jytte|title=Anna Borg|url=https://teaterleksikon.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|encyclopedia=Gyldendals Teaterleksikon|language=da|date=9 July 2012|orig-date=2007|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603144101/https://teaterleksikon.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|archive-date=3 June 2021}}</ref> becoming one of the first Icelanders to do so.<ref name=StefaníusjóðurBio/>
==Career== She portrayed strong and pure female characters,<ref name=SNLEntry/> and joined the Royal Danish Theatre in 1928.<ref name=KraksBlåBogEntry/> She made her on-stage debut as Tóta lila in ''{{ill|Eyvind of the Hills|is|Fjalla-Eyvindur: Leikrit í fjórum þáttum}}'' at the age of nine and became a participant in her mother's play tours to the West Coast of the United States and Canada from 1920 to 1921.<ref name=DBLEntry/><ref name=StefaníusjóðurBio/> On 22 March 1929,<ref name=DBLEntry/> Borg made her major debut as the lead role of Maria in Finnish-Swedish poet Runar Schildt's ''Galgemanden'', a two-person one-act play.<ref name=StefaníusjóðurBio/><ref name=KVINFOEntry/> She went on to portray Margarete in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's ''Goethe's Faust'' two years later.<ref name=DSDEntry>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Kvam|first=Kela|title=Anna Borg|url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|encyclopedia=Den Store Danske Encyklopædi|language=da|date=7 May 2020|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524162755/https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Anna_Borg|archive-date=24 May 2022}}</ref> That same year, Borg played Anne Boleyn in Kaj Munk's ''Cant''.<ref name=GyldendalsBio/> She also portrayed Agnete in Johan Ludvig Heiberg's ''Elves' Hill'' and was featured in some plays by Adam Oehlenschläger such as Valborg in ''Axel and Valborg'' in 1929 and Gudrun in ''Laxdæla saga''.<ref name=KVINFOEntry/><ref name=GyldendalsBio/>
Borg and her family resided at a summer house Kandestederne or in Reykjavik from 1932. Between 1934 and 1936, she was employed at the {{ill|Dagmar Theatre|da|Dagmarteatret|no|Dagmarteatret|sv|Dagmarteatern}} and then at the Royal Danish Theatre from 1938 after a single role in Munk's ''Sejren''.<ref name=DBLEntry/><ref name=KVINFOEntry/> In 1940, Borg played Indra's daughter in August Strindberg's ''A Dream Play''.<ref name=DSDEntry/> Five years later, she had the role of the doctor-parent Martha Ellekær in the feature film ''Affæren Birte'' and was Irene in ''De kloge og vi gale''.<ref name=DFIBio>{{cite web|title=Anna Borg|url=https://www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/person/anna-borg|publisher=Danish Film Institute|language=da|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430071539/https://www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/person/anna-borg|archive-date=30 April 2021}}</ref> Borg went on do character acting, being cast in the role of Klytemnestra in Jean-Paul Sartre's ''The Flies'' in 1946, portrayed Regina Hubbard Giddens in Lillian Hellman's ''The Little Foxes'' a year later and Laura in Strindberg's ''The Father'' in 1950.<ref name=KVINFOEntry/>
While doing a guest performance in the National Theatre of Iceland in Reykjavík in 1951, she became seriously ill with gallstones, a serious metabolic disease, and did not return to theatre work until 1954. Borg's appearance had been affected by her illness.<ref name=DBLEntry/><ref name=KVINFOEntry/><ref name=KraksBlåBogEntry/> Her first on-stage role following her recovery from ill health was as Queen Elizabeth I in Friedrich Schiller's ''Mary Stuart'' in 1954.<ref name=DSDEntry/> During this period of her life, Borg became a drama teacher for the opera staff at a school.<ref name=DBLEntry/><ref name=KVINFOEntry/> In 1957, she had a role in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Un ballo in maschera'';<ref name=GyldendalsBio/> Hans Christian Branner's ''Thermopylæ'' in 1958; ''Elsker-elsker ikke'' at Aalborg Teater in 1960;<ref name=KVINFOEntry/> Queen Bera in Oehlenschläger's ''Hagbard and Signe'' in 1961; and Verdi's ''Rigoletto'' in 1962.<ref name=GyldendalsBio/>
She was an honorary member of the Danish Nurses' Organization and was on the board of the Copenhagen Acting Personnel's Private Fund.<ref name=KraksBlåBogEntry>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Borg Anna|url=https://www.rosekamp.dk/Kraks_BB_1957/B.htm|encyclopedia=Kraks Blå Bog|language=da|date=1957|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221026102422/http://www.rosekamp.dk/Kraks_BB_1957/B.htm|archive-date=26 October 2022}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Borg married Reumert in Reykjavik on 5 August 1932 and they had two children;<ref name=KVINFOEntry/> she was Reumert's third wife.<ref name=GyldendalsBio/> Borg and 11 other people were killed in an aeroplane accident on a hilltop in Nesøya, Akershus, Norway, west of Oslo while en route to Reykjavík on the morning of 14 April 1963.<ref name=SNLEntry/><ref name=StefaníusjóðurBio/><ref>{{cite news|title=Crash Near Oslo Kills 12 On Plane; Danish Actress Anna Borg Listed Among Victims Cuts 300-Foot Swath|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/04/15/archives/crash-near-oslo-kills-12-on-plane-danish-actress-anna-borg-listed.html|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|page=3|date=15 April 1963|access-date=29 October 2022|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030080903/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/04/15/archives/crash-near-oslo-kills-12-on-plane-danish-actress-anna-borg-listed.html|archive-date=30 October 2022}}</ref> Her memoirs, ''Anna Borgs erindringer'', were published posthumously in 1964.<ref name=KVINFOEntry/> Proceeds from book sales were distributed to the Mrs. Stefania Guðmundsdóttir Memorial Fund, which helped establish its first grant in 1970.<ref name=GyldendalsBio/>
==Awards== In 1941, Borg received the Ingenio et arti theatre award.<ref name=DBLEntry/><ref name=GyldendalsBio/> She was named a winner of the Tagea Brandt Rejselegat seven years later and the {{ill|Läkerol's Culture Award|no|Läkerols kulturpris|sv|Läkerols kulturpris}} in 1955.<ref name=KraksBlåBogEntry/> Borg was a recipient of the {{ill|Teaterkatten|da|Teaterkatten}} in 1958.<ref>{{cite web|title=Teaterkatten|date=26 September 2022 |url=https://www.litteraturpriser.dk/pris/teaterk.htm|publisher={{ill|Litteraturpriser.dk|da|Litteraturpriser.dk}}|language=da|access-date=29 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930160504/https://www.litteraturpriser.dk/pris/teaterk.htm|archive-date=30 September 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Borg, Anna}} Category:1903 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Actresses from Reykjavík Category:20th-century Danish actresses Anna Borg Category:20th-century Danish women writers Anna Borg Category:Danish stage actresses Anna Borg Category:Women autobiographers Category:Danish autobiographers Category:Recipients of Ingenio et Arti Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Norway Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1963 Category:Danish women memoirists Anna Borg