Osa Massen

Osa Massen
Born Aase Madsen Iversen
(1914-01-13)13 January 1914
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died 2 January 2006(2006-01-02) (aged 91)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1935 – 1981
Spouse(s) Allan Hersholt (1938–1945) (divorced)
Dr. Harvey R. Cummins (1947–1951) (his death)
Dr. Stanley Vogel (1953–?) (divorced)

Osa Massen (13 January 1914[2] – 2 January 2006) was a Danish actress who went on to become a successful movie actress in Hollywood. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1941.[3]

Background and early career

Born Aase Madsen Iversen in 1914, she began her career as a newspaper photographer, before becoming an actress. She first came to the United States in 1937.[4] Massen notably appeared as Melvyn Douglas' unfaithful wife dealing with blackmailer Joan Crawford in A Woman's Face (1941).

Massen's first film was Kidnapped (1935).[5] She also appeared as a mysterious woman with something to hide in Deadline at Dawn. Later in her career, she appeared in guest roles on many television programs. She also starred with Lloyd Bridges in the science fiction film Rocketship X-M (1950), the first space adventure of the post-World War II era. She made three guest appearances on Perry Mason: in 1958, she played Lisa Bannister in "The Case of the Desperate Daughter", and in 1959, she played Sarah Werner in "The Case of the Shattered Dream". Her last television role was in 1962 when she played Lisa Pedersen in "The Case of the Tarnished Trademark".

Personal life

She was married three times, including once to Allan Hersholt, the son of Jean Hersholt, on 15 December 1938.[2]:229

Death

Massen died on 2 January 2006, 11 days before her 92nd birthday, following unspecified surgery in Hollywood, California.[note 1][6] She had previously been living just outside Copenhagen until just before her final relocation (to California).

Partial filmography

Notes

  1. ↑ The book Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture says Massen "... died of complications from surgery in a Santa Monica, California, convalescent home ...".

References

  1. ↑ IMDB The Master Race (1944)
  2. 1 2 Hans J. Wollstein (1994). Strangers in Hollywood: the history of Scandinavian actors in American films from 1910 to World War II. Scarecrow Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-8108-2938-1. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  3. ↑ Copy of Petition for Naturalization #90276, filed in Los Angeles, California under the name Aase Madsen Iversen Hersholt, ancestry.com; accessed 30 September 2015.
  4. ↑ She was recorded as Aase Madsen-Iversen, Danish actress, aged 23, on the manifest of the S/S Normandie, which sailed from Southampton, England, on 18 December 1937, and arrived at the Port of New York on 23 December 1937.
  5. ↑ "Osa Massen, 91; 1940s Danish-Born Actress Famous as Femme Fatale". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Lentz, Harris M. III (2007). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2006: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. pp. 230–231. ISBN 9780786452118. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
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