Sonja Henie
Norwegian figure skater and actress (1912–1969)
Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champion (1931–1936). Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. She is one of only two skaters to successfully defend a ladies' singles Olympic title, the other being Katarina Witt, and her six consecutive European titles have only been matched by Witt.
At the height of Henie's American acting career, she was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood and starred in a series of box-office hits, including Thin Ice (1937), Happy Landing (1938), My Lucky Star (1938), Second Fiddle (1939), and Sun Valley Serenade (1941).
Biography
Early life
Henie was born on 8 April 1912 in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway; she was the only daughter of Wilhelm Henie (1872–1937), a prosperous Norwegian furrier, and his wife, Selma Lochmann-Nielsen (1888–1961). In addition to the income from the fur business, both of Henie's parents had inherited wealth. Wilhelm Henie had been a one-time World Cycling Champion and the Henie children were encouraged to take up a variety of sports at a young age. Henie initially showed talent at skiing, then followed her older brother, Leif, to take up figure skating. As a girl Henie also was a nationally ranked tennis player, and a skilled swimmer and equestrian.
“Sonja Henie” enters the record as norwegian figure skater and actress (1912–1969). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sonja, Henie and Norwegian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q204205. VIAF identifies the subject as 64269704. The Library of Congress control number is n84165394. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 1969, 1928 and 1932.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sonja Henie” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.