- Born
- Died
- Benjamin Christensen was born on September 28, 1879 in Viborg, Denmark. He was a director and writer, known for Blind Justice (1916), Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) and Häxan (1922). He was married to Karen Winther, Sigrid Stahl and Ellen Arctander. He died on April 2, 1959 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- SpousesKaren Winther(1927 - ??)Sigrid Stahl(1922 - ??)Ellen Arctander(1904 - ??)
- Extreme stage fright as an actor and singer
- His films often feature complex lighting set-ups
- While staying at a hotel in Paris, he was in a room next to a suite where famous opera singer Enrico Caruso was staying. Through the thin walls, Caruso heard Christiensen singing pieces of an opera to himself in the bathtub. Caruso later approached Christensen and told him he had the best voice he had ever heard and offered to give him a lead part in his next production. Christensen, embarrassed, declined the offer, explaining that it was impossible for him to perform before an audience and that his singing voice only returned to him when he was alone and thought that nobody was listening.
- Formerly a stage actor and opera singer. Early in his promising career, though, his intense stage fright terminated his ability to either act of sing before an audience.
- Spent the last years of his life operating a movie theater in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Former medical student turned filmmaker, he achieved initial acclaim for several atmospheric thrillers, shot in Denmark from 1913 at the Dansk-Biograph Kompagnie. He is most highly regarded for the--at the time shocking and controversial--medieval horror film Häxan (1922))' (aka "Witchcraft Through the Ages"), after which he went to Germany for a spell at Ufa. In the U.S. from 1925, he directed more gothic horrors, including Seven Footprints to Satan (1929).
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 124-128. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
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