Quick Facts
Biography
Anna Maria Viktoria Hofman-Uddgren (née Hammarström; 23 February 1868 in Stockholm – 1 June 1947), also known as Hoffman and Hofmann, was a Swedish actress and cabaret singer, music hall and revue artist, theatre director and film director. She was the first female film director in Sweden. She was the daughter of Emma Hammarström and allegedly of King Oscar II of Sweden.
Life
Anna Hofman-Uddgren was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of King Oscar II. This was a well-known rumor in contemporary Stockholm. The French artist Cléo de Mérode, who was engaged as a guest artist by Hofman-Uddgren, referred to these rumors: "It was said of her that she was the natural daughter of King Oscar, which is possible as she had a noted confidence." This rumor was never confirmed, however: Anna Hofman-Uddgren herself also banned the press from mentioning any biographical information about her, despite the fact that this was common practice to do about artists in the press, an instruction which was also respected by the press.
In her unpublished memoirs, she stated that she was taken to the Royal Palace by her mother during her upbringing, where she was introduced in private to the king, and that he asked her if there was anything he could do for her. When she was seventeen, Oscar II financed a trip to Paris, where she remained for eight years, studying the French language and singing. She debuted as a singer in charity concerts in Paris and participated in the artist life there.
In 1892, Hofman-Uddgren returned to Stockholm, where she debuted as a chanteuse at the Stockholms Tivoli at Djurgården, where she became a popular artist with her French repertoire of songs.
Hofmann-Uddgren was the director of the popular Revue theatre Kristallsalongen in Stockholm and has been called the "Queen of Entertainment" in Stockholm in the decade around 1900.
She debuted as a film director as well as a film actress in the silent film Stockholmsfrestelser (1911). She also directed the films of the play Fadren (1912) and Fröken Julie (1912) by August Strindberg.
She married the newspaper man Gustaf Uddgren in 1900 and had six children.