Bodil Rosing (born Bodil Frederikke Hammerich; December 27, 1877 – December 31, 1941) was a Danish stage and American film actress in the silent and sound eras.
Early years
Bodil Hammerich was born in Copenhagen, the daughter of music dean Angel Hammerich and pianist Golla Hammerich (née Bodenhoff-Rosing). She studied acting at the Royal Danish Theatre in the 1890s.
Career
Rosing worked as a stage actress in Denmark, performing for three years with the Royal Danish Theatre.[1] She had her stage debut in Henrik Christiernsson's comedy Gurli at the Dagmar Theatre in 1898. In 1904, she played Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew at the Casino Theatre.[2] Her last role at the Dagmar Theatre was as Michelle in Camille in 1905.
During the early 1920s, she made one or two stage appearances on Broadway, including Fools Errant (1922),[3] while raising her children alone.[4][5] She was retired from acting when she came to Hollywood in 1924, where her daughter married actor Monte Blue. There, she was chosen to play a film role, in Pretty Ladies (1925).
Rosing was under studio contract at MGM and often played matronly roles such as servants, housekeepers, cooks, or mothers. Her most notable role was perhaps Janet Gaynor's faithful maid in F.W. Murnau's silent film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927). With the advent of sound film, she mostly portrayed foreigners and proved herself an extremely versatile actress in a variety of ethnicities, in about 85 films until her death. She appeared as the wife of her Danish compatriot, Jean Hersholt, in The Painted Veil (1934) with Greta Garbo, replacing the originally cast Beulah Bondi to bring a warmer look to the role.[6] She also played the German neighbor of Lionel Barrymore in You Can't Take It with You (1938) by Frank Capra.
Personal life and death
Rosing married a Norwegian doctor, Einer Jansen, in 1898; the couple had four children. They divorced in 1919.[citation needed]
Rosing died of a heart attack, aged 64. Shortly before her death, Rosing stated about her acting: "My goal has always been to reach the heart of my audience."[4]
