{{short description|German actress (1935–1994)}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox person | image = Più tardi Claire, più tardi… (1968) Elga Andersen.png | caption = Andersen in ''Run, Psycho, Run'' (1968) | birth_name = Helga Hymen (or Hymmen) | birth_date = {{Birth date|1935|02|02|df=y}} | birth_place = Dortmund, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|12|07|1935|02|02|df=y}} | death_place = New York City, US | death_cause = | spouse = Peter R. Gimbel | occupation = Actress, singer | children = }}
'''Elga Andersen''' (née '''Helga Hymen''' or '''Hymmen''') (2 February 1935 – 7 December 1994) was a German actress and singer. She starred in more than one dozen French films in the 1950s and 1960s and also debuted as a recording artist in the 1950s.<ref name="all">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/elga-andersen-p1472|title=Elga Andersen|first=Sandra|last=Brennan|year=2018|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=AllMovie}}</ref> She performed the songs "{{Lang|de|Treu sein|italic=no}}" and "{{Lang|de|Sündenlied|italic=no}}" in the 1961 film ''The Guns of Navarone'', and co-starred in the 1971 Steve McQueen film ''Le Mans''. Together with her second husband, Peter Gimbel, she embarked on a 1981 diving expedition of the sunken {{SS|Andrea Doria}}.
==Early life== She was born '''Helga Hymen''' (or '''Hymmen''') in Dortmund, Germany. She was the only child of her parents; her father was a civil engineer.<ref name="people" /> Her father enlisted with the Wehrmacht two weeks before World War II ended and was dispatched to the Russian front; he was never heard from again.<ref name="people" /> Hymen dropped out of high school at age 16 and worked as an English and French interpreter to help support her and her mother.<ref name="people" /> When she was 18 she moved to Paris and worked as a model.<ref name="people" />
==Film career== She made her acting debut in ''Les Collegiennes'', a 1957 French film directed by André Hunebelle, under the name Elga Hymen.<ref name="fab" />
Otto Preminger selected her for a small role in his film ''Bonjour Tristesse'' in 1958 and gave her the stage name "Elga Andersen". Her first starring role was in 1960 in ''Brazilian Rhapsody''. Into the 1970s she appeared in many predominantly European productions. Her American productions included ''A Global Affair'' (1964), starring Bob Hope, and ''Le Mans'' (1971), in which she played opposite Steve McQueen.<ref name="all" /> Andersen and McQueen reportedly had an affair during the filming.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/porsche-911-t-belonged-steve-mcqueens-mistress|title=This Porsche 911 T belonged to Steve McQueen's mistress|date=18 October 2015|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=Classic Driver}}</ref> One of the Porsche 911S sports coupes used in the production was given to Andersen as partial compensation for her work in the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/christie-s-fails-to-sell-rare-steve-mcqueen-le-mans-porsche-911|title=Christie's Fails to Sell Rare Steve McQueen Le Mans Porsche 911|first=Hannah|last=Elliot|date=5 November 2015|work=Bloomberg L.P.|accessdate=7 March 2018}}</ref>
==Personal life== Her first husband was Christian Girard, a Parisian architect.<ref name="fab" /> In 1978 she remarried to the American millionaire Peter R. Gimbel.<ref name="people">{{Cite web|last=DiLiberto |first=Gioia |title=What Will Adventurers Peter Gimbel and Elga Andersen Dive into Next? Movies!|publisher=People|date=2 November 1981|url=http://people.com/archive/what-will-adventurers-peter-gimbel-and-elga-andersen-dive-into-next-movies-vol-16-no-18/|accessdate=7 March 2018}}</ref>
In 1981 the couple engaged in a million-dollar project to try to recover the vault of the {{SS|Andrea Doria}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/08/23/murky-mystery-in-the-deep/80d690d9-22d1-482d-bd70-5e974218ecb9/|title=Murky Mystery in the Deep|first=Joyce|last=Wadler|date=23 August 1981|accessdate=7 March 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Andersen said that their main objective was to determine why the ship sank so quickly after being struck by an ocean liner near Nantucket, Massachusetts, on 25 July 1956.<ref name="nyt" /> At the same time, the salvage crew searched for shipboard vaults that they believed contained thousands of dollars in cash. At the beginning of September 1981, after salvaging one of the vaults, the expedition members decided to end the project.<ref name="nyt">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/01/us/diving-crew-proving-andrea-doria-project-was-not-treasure-hunt.html|title=Diving crew proving ''Andrea Doria'' project was not treasure hunt|first=Richard|last=Severo|date=1 September 1981|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The couple produced two documentaries for American television about their expedition.<ref name="boston">{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8019261.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307151038/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8019261.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 March 2018|title=Peter Gimbel, 59, Explored ''Andrea Doria''|agency=Associated Press|work=The Boston Globe|date=13 July 1987|accessdate=7 March 2018|via=HighBeam}}</ref>
Andersen died of cancer on 7 December 1994.<ref name="fab">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rx4sDwAAQBAJ&q=helga+hymen+dortmund&pg=PA1996|title=Le Favolose Attrici Anni Settanta|language=it|trans-title=The Fabulous Seventies Actresses|first=Maria |last=Cremonini|year=2017|page=1996}}</ref> In 1995 her ashes and those of Gimbel, who had died in 1987,<ref name="boston" /> were interred in the ''Andrea Doria'' during a diving expedition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/19990729/NEWS01/307299997|title=''Andrea Doria'' wreck claims 2nd diver in week|first=John|last=Leaning|date=29 July 1999|accessdate=7 March 2018|work=Cape Cod Times}}</ref>
==Partial filmography== {{Div col}} * 1957: ''Les Collégiennes'' – Hélène * 1957: ''Love in the Afternoon'' – Bit Part (uncredited) * 1957: ''La polka des menottes'' – Une infirmière (uncredited) * 1957: ''Girl Merchants'' * 1958: ''Bonjour Tristesse'' – Denise * 1958: ''Ascenseur pour l'échafaud'' – Frieda Bencker * 1958: ''Solang' die Sterne glüh'n'' – Doris Hoff, Fotografin * 1958: ''Ist Mama nicht fabelhaft?'' – Evelyn * 1958: ''So ein Millionär hat's schwer'' – Alice Sorel * 1960: ''I baccanali di Tiberio'' * 1960: ''Os Bandeirantes'' – Elga * 1961: ''Le monocle noir'' – Martha * 1961: ''Mourir d'amour'' – Karin, la secrétaire * 1962: ''Le scorpion'' – Corinne * 1962: ''The Eye of the Monocle'' – Erika Murger * 1962: ''L'empire de la nuit'' – Widow * 1963: ''Your Turn, Darling'' – Valérie Pontiac / Montana * 1964: ''A Global Affair'' – Yvette * 1964: ''Coffin from Hong Kong'' – Stella * 1965: ''DM-Killer'' – Inge Moebius * 1965: ''Coast of Skeletons'' – Elizabeth Von Koltze * 1966: ''{{ill|The Battle of the Mods|it|La battaglia dei Mods}}'' – Sonia * 1966: ''Johnny Colt'' – Caroline Williams * 1968: ''Captain Singrid'' – Singrid * 1968: ''Run, Psycho, Run'' – Claire/ Ann * 1968: ''Più tardi Claire, più tardi...'' – Claire / Ann * 1970: ''Sex-Power'' – Lorelei * 1971: ''Le Mans'' – Lisa Belgetti * 1971: ''Un omicidio perfetto a termine di legge'' – Monica Breda * 1971: ''Detenuto in attesa di giudizio'' – Ingrid Di Noi * 1971–1974: ''Aux frontières du possible'' (French TV show) – Barbara Andersen (final appearance) * 1973: ''Night Flight from Moscow'' – Kate Cross {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0026130}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Elga}} Category:1935 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Musicians from Dortmund Category:People from the Province of Westphalia Category:German film actresses Category:German television actresses Category:20th-century German actresses Category:20th-century German women singers Category:Gimbel family Category:Actresses from Dortmund Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state)