Nils Olaf Chrisander

Nils Olaf Chrisander (born Waldemar Olaf Chrisander, 14 February 1884 – 5 June 1947) was a Swedish actor and film director in the early part of the twentieth century.

Nils Olaf Chrisander
Chrisander photographed by Nicola Perscheid, c. 1915
Born	Waldemar Olaf Chrisander (1884-02-14)14 February 1884 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	5 June 1947(1947-06-05) (aged 63) Skurup, Sweden
Occupation(s)	Film director, Actor
Years active	1914–1927

Biography

Chrisander's first screen appearances as an actor were in German and Swedish silent films in the mid-1910s. His first motion picture role was in the 1915 Carl Schönfeld-directed German silent film drama Um ein Weib.

As an actor, Chrisander is possibly best recalled for starring as "Erik the Phantom" in the now lost 1916 Ernst Matray-directed German adaptation Das Phantom der Oper, based on Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera opposite Norwegian actress Aud Egede-Nissen.^[1] Matray's version is the first film adaptation of Leroux's 1909–1910 serialized novel.^[2] In 1917, he appeared opposite the popular Polish film actress Pola Negri in her first role in a German production, Nicht lange täuschte mich das Glück. In 1919, he co-directed the German silent film Alraune und der Golem with actor and director Paul Wegener.

After performing in a film serial for director Karl Gerhardt opposite actress Lil Dagover from 1920 to 1921, Chrisander began his career in Germany as a director. In total, he directed three films in Germany, before relocating to the United States where he directed two dramatic films: 1927's Fighting Love, starring Jetta Goudal, Victor Varconi and Henry B. Walthall for Cecil B. DeMille Pictures,^[3] and that same year, The Heart Thief, starring Joseph Schildkraut and Lya De Putti.^[4]

By 1930, he was living at S. Gramercy Place in Los Angeles, California.^[5] He died in 1947 in Skurup, Sweden.

Selected filmography

Actor

• Das Phantom der Oper (1916)
• The White Roses of Ravensberg (1919)
• The Hunt for Death (1920)

Director

• Alraune und der Golem (1919, co-director)
• The White Roses of Ravensberg (1919)
• Death the Victor (1920)
• Fighting Love (1927)
• The Heart Thief (1927)