Kyllikki Forssell (2 May 1925 — 7 October 2019) [1] was a leading Finnish stage and film actress, with a career spanning over 60 years from the mid-20th to the early 21st century and film director. [2] [3] [4]
She was one of the first four Finnish women film directors. [5]
Kyllikki Forssell was born in Helsinki to cavalry Colonel Juho Forssell and Kyllikki née Nyman-Linnove. [3] She had a strict, military-style upbringing, with her mother insisting — despite the family being Finnish-speaking — on speaking French to her daughter. [6]
She received her education in Finnish, Swedish and German, [6] completing her secondary school in 1943, and went on, against the wishes of her anti-thespian father, to study acting at the Suomi-Filmi cinematic school (1943–44) and the Swedish Theatre stage school (1944–46). [2] [3]
Forssell was regarded as an intelligent, confident, and technically skilled actor, with a line of strong, regal characters in her repertoire. [7]
Although she appeared in several films, she is best known as a stage actor, most notably attached to the Finnish National Theatre where she worked over 40 years from 1948 until the early 1990s. [7] [4] She also worked extensively with the Helsinki City Theatre. [8]
She also directed four productions at the National Theatre, [2] as well as three television dramas. [9]
A small selection of Forssell's many roles included (all at the Finnish National Theatre, unless otherwise indicated): [2] [10]
Her portrayal of Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker was considered by some as the performance of the decade. [2]
In 1976, Forssell received the Pro Finlandia medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland, [12] and in 1991, Finland's premier theatre award, the Ida Aalberg Prize . [2]
In 1989, the honorary title of Teatterineuvos ( lit. 'Theatre Counselor') was conferred on Forssell by the President of Finland. [1]
In 1945, Forssell married the historian, Professor Patrick Bruun, but the marriage ended in divorce only five years later. [2]
In 1951, she married Freiherr Erik Indrenius-Zalewski, thus becoming entitled Freifrau ( Finnish: Vapaaherratar). [2]
In the 1960s her affair with fellow actor Esko Salminen, 15 years her junior, caused something of a scandal due to their age difference. [7]
Forssell retired in 2012, and died in 2019 at the age of 94, after a long battle with cancer. [1]