Greta Gynt
| Greta Gynt | |
|---|---|
 Gynt in 1940 | |
| Born |
Margrethe Woxholt 15 November 1916 Oslo, Norway |
| Died |
2 April 2000 (aged 83) London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1934–1963 |
| Spouse(s) | Frederick Moore (1956 - 1983) |
Greta Gynt (15 November 1916 – 2 April 2000), born Margrethe Woxholt, was a Norwegian singer, dancer and actress.[1]
Biography
Greta Gynt was born Margrethe Woxholt in Oslo, Norway. As a child, she came with her parents to Britain and started dancing lessons at the age of 5. Eventually, they moved back to Norway. At aged 12, she started out as a dancer at the Chat Noir shows in Oslo. After the Swedish film Sången till henne (1934), her mother, costume designer Kirsten Woxholt, felt her daughter would have better luck in Britain. She got a letter of recommendation from Fox Film and moved back to the UK.
She played lead roles in minor British films in the 1930s and '40s. The Rank Organisation was trying to market her as the British Jean Harlow. She also tried an unsuccessful career in the US, and went back to Britain afterwards.
Her most famous film is the 1939 Bela Lugosi film The Dark Eyes of London. Her last film was a Columbia Pictures release - the 1963 (released 1966) The Runaway in which she played the lead.
Personal life
Reportedly, she adopted the name Gynt after she heard a pianist playing Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite in a hotel in London in the late 1930s.
Gynt was married four times. Her last husband was Frederick Moore, a plastic surgeon, who died in 1983. She was the sister of second unit photographer Gil Woxholt who photographed scenes in the 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark.
Filmography
- Sången till henne (1934) (as Greta Woxholt)
- It Happened in Paris (1935)
- Boys Will Be Girls (1937)
- The Last Curtain (1937)
- Second Best Bed (1938)
- The Last Barricade (1938)
- Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror (1938)
- Too Dangerous to Live (1939)
- She Couldn't Say No (1939)
- The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939)
- The Dark Eyes of London (1939)
- Bulldog Sees It Through (1939)
- The Middle Watch (1940)
- Two for Danger (1940)
- Room for Two (1940)
- Crook's Tour (1941)
- The Common Touch (1941)
- Tomorrow We Live (1943)
- It's That Man Again (1943)
- Mr. Emmanuel (1944)
- London Town (1946)
- Dear Murderer (1947)
- Take My Life (1947)
- Easy Money (1948)
- The Calendar (1948)
- Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1948)
- Shadow of the Eagle (1950)
- I'll Get You for This (1951)
- La rivale dell'imperatrice (1951)
- Soldiers Three (1951)
- Whispering Smith Hits London (1952)
- The Ringer (1952)
- I'm A Stranger (1952)
- Three Steps in the Dark (1953)
- The Last Moment (1954)
- Destination Milan (1954)
- Forbidden Cargo (1954)
- Devil's Point (1954)
- Born for Trouble (1955)
- See How They Run (1955)
- The Blue Peter (1955)
- My Wife's Family (1956)
- Fortune Is a Woman (1957)
- Morning Call (1957)
- The Crowning Touch (1959)
- The Witness (1959)
- Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons (1960)
- The Runaway (1963)