The figure-skating film star’s Porsche

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One of the three pictures seen here had been lurking in a corner of our digital files for ages with no added information whatsoever. And although the car appears to be wearing German (export?) plates we thought it just had to be an American photograph. Well, the bright atmosphere certainly seemed American to us, as did the blonde lady.

The Norwegian figure skating champion Sonja Henie

As so often happens, we were totally wrong here. A simple search soon revealed that the lady in question was Norwegian figure-skating champion Sonja Henie with the photograph being taken at her Norwegian mansion, Landøya, in 1953, when she was 41 years old. And there were a few more pictures taken at the same photoshoot. By that time Henie had made a remarkable career move. She’d won her first World Cup in figure skating in 1927 with nine more to follow, as she also became an Olympic champion in 1928, 1932 and 1936. But after the War she switched to acting with Hollywood becoming her new career territory. She was just about as successful there, and was even said to be the highest paid actress at one stage. Eventually, she was also granted American citizenship. So you could say she was an American girl, after all, when these photographs were taken.

There was more to learn. The Porsche 356 Roadster - of the early ‘Pre-A’ type variety - was given to her by business tycoon Kjell Holm, with whom she supposedly had an affair while being married. She drove the Porsche as long as the relationship lasted. Fortunately, the car survives and is still in Norway and supposedly in a highly original condition with some 50,000 kms on the clock.

(Words Jeroen Booij, pictures Aftenposten, Norskporsche.no)

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