Sonja henie death
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There are now three generations that have never heard of her. Say her name to anyone under 40, and they won’t know that she was the first teen phenom of modern times—that in 1928, months before Shirley Temple was even born, this dimpled imp of 15 was already a child star on the world’s stage. She was called “the Nasturtium of the North,” “the Ice Queen of Norway,” “the White Swan,” and, less flatteringly, “Little Miss Moneybags.” Her surname rhymes with “penny,” so perhaps it’s no surprise that she counted every last one. When she died, in 1969, her holdings were estimated at more than $47 million. Indeed, the word that really fit this bundle of cutting-edge charisma would not be coined until the 1960s, when Andy Warhol packed star wattage and have-it-all hunger into three syllables: “superstar.” Sonja Henie was the first.
What did she do? Sonja Henie was a figure skater. And while there were famous figure skaters before her—Jackson Haines, known as the “American skating prince,” and men such as Axel Paulsen and Ulrich Salchow, for whom jumps were named—none caught the attention
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From the Archives: Star Skater Sonja Henie Dies
Sonja Henie, blonde Norwegian figure skater who dominated the rink for a decade and then skated her way to a second fabulous career in films, died Sunday of leukemia. She was 57.
Miss Henie, ill for the past nine months, died aboard an ambulance plane from Paris to her native Oslo, only minutes before landing.
With her was her third husband, Norwegian shipping magnate Niels Onstad.
“While we were in Paris she suddenly became much worse and she was examined by a doctor,” he said. “On his advice, I arranged an ambulance plane to take her home to Oslo. We had been flying for only an hour and she just slipped away.”
Until shortly before her death, Miss Henie had remained socially active and continued to direct the activities of the $3.5 million art museum she and her husband had presented to Norway.
Born April 8, 1912, Miss Henie began her world-famed skating career after she received a pair of ice skates for Christmas when she was eight years old. A year later she won Oslo’s junior skating championship. At 11 she won the national
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Sonja Henie Biography
1912-1969
Norwegian figure skater
During her lifetime Sonja Henie reigned as the "queen of ice," and today she remains the most influential individual to have been part of figure skating. During a career that spanned the 1920s, '30s, '40s, and '50s, the Norwegian skater made major contributions to women's figure skating, which would help propel the sport into the prominence it now enjoys as a dazzling, physically-challenging, personality-filled field. Henie is credited with many "firsts," including being the first international sports star, the first superstar among figure skaters, and the first—and still only—woman to win three Olympic gold medals in figure skating. Among her many victories as a competitive skater, she also won ten consecutive world championships. These honors were the result of talent, intensive training, and an interest in doing something different from other skaters. Henie is credited with transforming an originally demure, predictable activity by infusing it with her feminine charms and passion for the ballet. Shor
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