Gerda Ring

Who was Gerda Ring?

Gerda Ring was a Norwegian stage actress and stage producer. She was the daughter of writer Barbra Ring, and married actor and theatre director Halfdan Christensen in 1922. They were parents of the actors Bab Christensen and Pelle Christensen.

She had her stage début at Det Nye Teater in Copenhagen in 1911, in the play Kongens hjerte, written by Barbra Ring. She played at the National Theatre from 1912 to 1961. Among her roles were "Hedvig" in Ibsen's The Wild Duck, and "Eleonora" in Strindberg's Easter. Her first stage production was an adaption of Gunnar Heiberg's play Gerts have in 1930.

During the Second World War Ring played a leading role in the theatre conflict which emerged in 1941, being on the board of the Norwegian Actors' Equity Association. One of the disagreements was whether the actors were obliged to participate in radio productions. After several actors, including Ring, refused to participate for Radioteatret in May 1941, the Gestapo intervened, and the group had their working permissions revoked. This was 21 May, and already the same evening a strike was effective in Oslo, and from the next day also in Bergen and Trondheim.