Benjamin Christensen

Benjamin Christensen (28 September 1879 – 2 April 1959) was a Danish film director, screenwriter and an actor, both in film and on the stage. As a director, he was best known for his 1922 film Häxan (aka Witchcraft Through the Ages). His most memorable and acclaimed acting performance was in the film Michael (1924), where he played Claude Zoret, the male lover of the film's title character in a landmark gay film. Biography Benjamin Christensen was born in Viborg, Denmark as the youngest of the twelve children. He initially studied medicine, but got interested in acting and began studies at the Det Kongelige Teater (Royal Danish Theatre) in Copenhagen in 1901. Christensen's professional acting career began in Aarhus in 1907, but he did not act for long. He soon abandoned the stage in order to become a wine salesman. In 1911, Christensen made his debut as a film actor. All of his pre-directorial efforts were lost, including Scenens børn (1913), the only motion picture directed by eminent Norwegian playwright and stage director Bjørn Bjørnson. In 1913, Christensen assumed control of the small, Hellborg-based production company for which he worked, and reorganized it as Dansk-Biograf Kompagnie, making a directorial debut with Det hemmelighedsfulde X (The Mysterious X, 1914), a spy melodrama, with camerawork, cutting, and art direction that was considered revolutionary for the period. Christensen himself played the main role, as in his second film, Hævnens nat (Blind Justice, 1916), portraying a man wrongly accused of murder. Despite the success of his first two films, Christensen did not find acceptance within the Danish film industry, and after Blind Justice, he returned to the stage.