{{Short description |Danish actress (1774–1842)}} {{Use dmy dates |date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Eline Heger | image = Herman Koefoed - Portræt af skuespillerinde, jomfru Maria Smidth som Dyveke.png | caption = Portrait of Heger in costume as Dyveke, painted by Herman Koefoed c. 1796 | birth_name = Ellen Maria Smidth | birth_date = {{Birth date|1774|12|13}} | birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark | death_date = {{Death date and age|1842|06|06|1774|12|13}} | death_place = Tårbæk, Denmark | spouse = {{marriage|Stephan Heger|1797}} | children = Elise Holst }}
'''Ellen Marie Heger''' née ''Schmidt'' (13 December 1774 in Copenhagen – 6 June 1842 in Tårbæk), known as '''Eline Heger''', was a Danish stage actress.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Jørgensen|first=Lisbet|date=2023-04-22|title=Eline Heger|url=https://kvindebiografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Eline_Heger|access-date=2025-04-28|website=Danmarks Nationalleksikon|publisher=Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon|language=da}}</ref> During her career from 1793 to 1832, she performed no fewer than eighty unique roles.
Heger often performed as a romantic heroine. She is best known for her roles in Adam Oehlenschläger's plays, as she was highly influential in his theatrical career and is believed to have been the model for the Nordic heroine in his tragedies.<ref name=":0" />
== Biography == Ellen Marie Schmidt was born 13 December 1774 in Copenhagen to Anne Reinsdorf and Thomas Schmidt. She came from a poor, bourgeois family.<ref name=":1">{{Cite encyclopedia|year=1921|title=Heger, Ellen|encyclopedia=Salmonsens konversationsleksikon|publisher=J.H. Schultz|location=Copenhagen|url=https://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/11/0133.html|last=Neiiendam|first=R.|editor-last=Blangstrup|editor-first=Christian|edition=2nd|volume=XI: Hasselmus–Hven|pages=125|language=da}}</ref> Her father was a coppersmith and an alcoholic who was unable to support his family. To supplement their income, her mother washed clothes with Eline's help.
In an effort to earn more money for the family, her mother placed Eline in the ballet school of the Royal Danish Theatre in 1789, hoping to establish another income stream.<ref name=":0" /> She was just fifteen years old at the time, and remained a student there until 1793 under the tutelage of Vincenzo Galeotti.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Neiiendam|first=Robert|title=Eline Heger|url=https://biografiskleksikon.lex.dk/Eline_Heger|website=Danmarks Nationalleksikon|date=17 July 2011 |publisher=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon|language=da}}</ref> On 26 November of that year, she made her debut as an actress as Lucette in ''De Gode Moder''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
As an actress, she became much beloved and was known for playing heroines. Among her admirers were Knud Lyne Rahbek, Henrich Steffen, and her later husband Stephan Heger.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> She and Stephan were married on 4 February 1797. They had ten children together: Wilhelmine (1797), Anna Louise (1799), Hans Christian (c. 1802), Jens Frederik (1804), Hans Christian (1806), Eline Marie (1808), Elise (1811), Edvard (1813), Juliane Sophie (1815), and Johan Carl Peter (1818). Apart from authoring children's books, Stephan was not very involved in raising their children, and Eline managed the home and her children's upbringings alongside her career.<ref name=":0" />
Heger's final role on stage was as Sophie in Thomasine Christine Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd's play ''Magt og List''. She performed at the play's premiere in 1832, but suffered a stroke soon after which left her partially paralysed and unable to speak.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> She communicated through a chalkboard for the remainder of her life. She and her husband separated shortly thereafter, and she went to live with her two daughters Eline Marie and Juliane Sophie. Her daughter Elise Holst became an actress and replaced her in many of her theatrical roles after her abrupt retirement.<ref name=":0" /> She died on 6 June 1842 in Tårbæk and was buried at Lyngby Church.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Eline Heger|url=https://gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=elineheger|access-date=2025-04-28|website=gravsted.dk|language=da}}</ref>
==List of roles== thumb|Heger in costume, 1807 {{Div col}}* ''Den gode moder'' as Lucette (1793, 1797) * ''Emilie Galotti'' as Emilie Galotti (1793, 1797, 1800, 1806) * ''Han blander sig i alt'' as Charlotte (1794, 1797, 1798, 1809) * ''Pigen fra Marienborg'' as Cathinka (1794, 1797) * ''Vejen til ødelæggelse'' as Sophie Freelove (1794) * ''Barselstuen'' as Engelke Hattemagers (1795, 1796, 1799) * ''De aftakkede officerer'' as Lovise (1795, 1800, 1803) * ''De fire formyndere'' as Miss Nancy Lovely (1795, 1797) * ''De to søskende'' as Mariane (1795) * ''De to venner'' as Pauline (1795) * ''Den godmodige familie'' as Sophie (1795, 1797, 1799) * ''Gamle og nye sæder'' as Kirstine (1795, 1797, 1798) * ''Hekseri'' as Terentia (1795) * ''Juliane von Lindorak'' as Juliane von Lindorak (1795, 1797, 1805) * ''Kjolen fra Lyon'' as Constance von Birbak (1795, 1797, 1807) * ''Ringen'' as Komtesse Wildhelm (1795) * ''Ægteskabsskolen'' as Charlotte Silkeborg (1795, 1798) * ''Advokaterne'' as Fredericia (1796, 1800, 1804, 1809, 1812) * ''Armod og høimodighed'' as Lovise (1796, 1797, 1799, 1802, 1806, 1816) * ''Bortførelsen'' as Henriette (1796, 1799) * ''Den lykkelige familie'' as Clara (1796) * The Political Tinker as Raadsherreinde (1796, 1797, 1806) * ''Den skarpe kniv kan let faa skaar'' as Wilhelmine (1796) * ''Det tyvende aars ægteskab'' as Marie Lønberg (1796) * ''Dyveke'' as Dyveke (1796, 1797, 1803) * ''Høstdagen'' as Amalila Fersen (1796, 1798) * ''Jøden'' as Elise (1796, 1797) * ''Kuren'' as Constane (1796) * ''Rejsen til byen'' as Salome (1796, 1798) * ''Ulysses von Ithacia'' as Pallas (1796) * ''Væddemaalet'' as Frøken Adelaide (1796, 1802) * ''Ægtefolkene fra landet'' as Karoline Bernhard (1796, 1797, 1806) * ''De noble passioner'' as Leonore (1797, 1800, 1803) * ''Den sanseløse'' as Isabella (1797) * ''Galejslaven'' as Amalia (1797) * ''Ja eller nej'' as Julie/Antonette (1797) * ''Jægerne'' as Frederikke (1797) * ''Manden paa fyrretyve aar'' as Julie (1797) * ''Niels Ebbesen af Nørreris'' as Estrith (1797, 1802, 1805) * ''Sammensværgelsen mod Peter den Store'' as Cyrilla (1797) * ''De to poststationer'' as Wilhelmine (1798) * ''Falsk undseelse'' as Wilhelmine (1798, 1803, 1808) * ''Heckingborn'' as Lady Fletscher (1798, 1803, 1805, 1810) * ''Ringen'' as Henriette von Darring (1798) * ''Skumlerne'' as Jenny (1798) * ''Den forladte datter'' as Lovise (1799, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1805, 1808, 1810, 1812) * ''Emigranterne'' as Adelaide d'Arras (1799) * ''Beverley'' as Henriette (1800) * ''Fredsmægleren'' as Lucilie (1800) * ''Herman von Unna'' as Sophie (1800, 1802, 1807, 1820) * ''Korsikanerne'' as Ottilia (1800) * ''Armod og højmodighed'' as Lovise (1801, 1810) * ''Barselstuen'' as Dame (1801, 1803, 1804, 1805, 1807, 1822) * ''Den værdige fader'' as Sophie (1801) * ''Octavia'' as Octavia (1802) * ''Onkelrollen'' as Louise (1802) * ''Eugenie'' as Eugenie (1803) * ''Ringen'' as Ubekendt (1803, 1810) * ''Selim, prins af Algier'' as Irena (1805) * ''Tvekampen'' as Laura (1807) * ''Menneskehad og anger'' as Eulalia (1810, 1819) * ''Snedkeren i Lifland'' as Eudoxia Mazeppa (1810) * ''General Schlenzheim og hans familie'' as Sophie (1814) * ''Balders død'' as Nanna (1816) * ''Sammensværgelsen mod Peter den Store'' as Natalia (1817) * ''Falsk undseelse'' as Fru Heldmand (1821) * ''Embedsiver'' as Hofraadinde Rosen (1823) * ''Skumlerne'' as Emilie (1823) * ''Niels Ebbesen af Nørreris'' as Jutta (1824) * ''Dyveke'' as Sigbrit (1826) * ''Hamlet'' as Gertrude (1826) * ''Myndlingerne'' as Madame Drave (1826) * ''Emilie Galotti'' as Claudia Galotti (1827) * ''Romeo and Juliet'' as Lady Capulet (1828) * ''Hamlet'' as Ophelia (1829) * ''Jøden'' as Madame Rathcliffe (1829) * ''Ringen'' as Fru von Darring (1829) * ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' as Margaret Page (1830) * ''Magt og list'' (1832){{div col end}}
== References == <references /> {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heger, Eline}} Category:1774 births Category:1842 deaths Category:18th-century Danish actresses Category:19th-century Danish actresses Category:Actresses from Copenhagen
Category:People from Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality