Gustaf Molander

Who was Gustaf Molander?

Gustaf Harald August Molander was a Swedish actor and film director. His parents were director Harald Molander, Sr. and singer and actress Lydia Molander, née Wessler, and his brother was director Olof Molander. He was the father of director and producer Harald Molander from his first marriage to actress Karin Molander and father to actor Jan Molander from his second marriage to Elsa Fahlberg.

Gustaf Molander was born in Helsinki in Finland, where his father was working at the Swedish Theatre. He studied in the school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm 1907–1909, acted at the Swedish theatre in Helsinki 1909–1913, and then at the Royal Dramatic Theatre from 1913–1926. The last years there he headed the school; his students included Greta Garbo.

Molander wrote several screenplays for Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, and was helped by the latter to get employment as a director for Svensk Filmindustri, where he worked 1923–1956. All in all, he directed sixty-two films. He often worked with Gösta Ekman, and his films include Intermezzo, which became Ingrid Bergman's breakthrough and paved her way to America, where she starred in the 1939 Hollywood remake of the film.