Edith Carlmar

Director & actor · born 15 November 1911 · Oslo, Norway

Edith Carlmar (Edith Mary Johanne Mathiesen) was an Norwegian actress and Norway's first female film director. She grew up in the eastern part of Oslo, in poor conditions, alone with her mother. However, her mother was a culturally oriented woman, so Edith was introduced to music, dance, and the theatre at an early age. At 19, she married Otto Carlmar, whom she met through her mother. In her early twenties, she made her debut as an actress at Det Nye Teater in Oslo. There she came into contact with Tancred Ibsen, and her interest in film began to take shape when he offered her a position in film production.

During the war, she worked as a production manager on several films, and in 1946 she traveled to England to study production management and directing. In 1949, she and her husband founded Carlmar Film A/S, where she was the director and he was the producer. She made her directorial debut in 1949 with Death Is a Caress.

Where to start: Oslofilm: Bak kulissene (1964).