Tancred Ibsen

Tancred Ibsen (11 July 1893 – 4 December 1978) was a Norwegian military officer, aviator, film director and screenwriter. Background Ibsen was the son of Sigurd Ibsen and Bergljot Bjørnson. He was the grandson of both Henrik Ibsen and Nobel laureate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He married dancer and actress Lillebil Ibsen in 1919, and remained married to her until his death in 1978. His son Tancred Ibsen Jr. (1921–2015) was a Norwegian diplomat. Aviation career In 1917, Tancred Ibsen started pilot training at Kjeller Airport and began his career in the Norwegian Army Air Service. He started the first civilian active airplane company, A/S Aero in 1920, financed by his uncle, businessman Einar Bjørnson, and two shipowners. The company successfully operated demonstration, advertising, and limited mail flights with Ibsen as the head pilot. The company also chartered airplanes to the Det Norske Luftfartrederi routes in southern Norway. The activity of A/S Aero ended, with the company becoming part of the aircraft factory A/S Norske Aeroplanfabrik in Tønsberg. Film career A 1923 trip to New York and a screening of D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm inspired Ibsen with the potential of filmmaking. He spent the next two years in Los Angeles, working at Metro Goldwyn Mayer as a handyman, electrician, and finally in the script department.