Maria Helena "Mimi" Pollak (9 April 1903 – 11 August 1999) was a Swedish actress and theatre director.
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Biography
Pollak was born in Karlstad, Värmland, to Austrian-Jewish parents and was trained in the performing arts at the prestigious Royal Dramatic Training Academy in Stockholm from 1922 to 1924.
Pollak worked in the 1920s and 1930s as a film actress, and as a stage actress, mainly at the Blanche Theatre in Stockholm and at the Helsingborg City Theatre. She returned as an actress to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm in 1942.
In 1948, Pollak became the first contracted female director at the Royal Dramatic Theatre with the production of Jean Genet's Jungfruleken (Les Bonnes/The Maids), starring Anita Björk and Maj-Britt Nilsson in the leads. Pollak became a successful director at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and staged altogether 60 plays at the national stage over the years.
After her 1922 debut in the film Amatörfilmen (The Amateur Film), she appeared in about 30 film and TV productions. Notable film roles are her supporting parts in Schamyl Bauman's film comedy Skolka skolan (Skip School, 1949), in Vilgot Sjöman's Klänningen (The Dress, 1964), as the piano teacher in Ingmar Bergman's Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata, 1978) starring Ingrid Bergman, in Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd (Flight of the Eagle, 1982) starring Max von Sydow and directed by Jan Troell, and in the popular Swedish TV mystery Agnes Cecilia – en sällsam historia (Agnes Cecilia — A Strange Story, 1991) adapted from the successful books by Maria Gripe.
She retired in 1975, but made a stage comeback in 1991, aged 87, in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.
She was sometimes credited as Mimmi Pollak, Mimi Pollack or Mimmi Pollack.
Personal life
Pollak attended the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in Stockholm with fellow actress Greta Garbo from 1922 to 1924. Garbo moved to the US in 1925, but they maintained contact for over 60 years. Their relationship and letters are portrayed (published in parts) in the Swedish book Djävla älskade unge! (Bloody Beloved Kid), written by Tin Andersén Axell (2005), and in Garbo's personal writings, released in Sweden the same year.
Pollak was married to Swedish actor Nils Lundell (1889–1943) from 1927 to 1938, and together they had a son.
Selected filmography
1991 – Agnes Cecilia – en sällsam historia
1986 – Amorosa
1985 – August Strindberg ett liv (TV)
1982 – The Flight of the Eagle (Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd)
1978 – Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten)
1979 – I frid och värdighet
1979 – Christopher's House
1971 – Emil i Lönneberga
1965 – Nightmare
1964 – The Dress
1956 – Rätten att älska
1955 – Mord, lilla vän
1951 – Sommarlek
1949 – Playing Truant
1949 – Bara en mor (a.k.a. Only A Mother)
1949 – The Street
1947 – Den långa vägen
1947 – Dinner for Two
1942 – Lågor i dunklet
1942 – We House Slaves
1941 – The Ghost Reporter
1940 – Med dej i mina armar
1940 One, But a Lion!
1938 – The Great Love
