Olav Dalgard

---

title: "Olav Dalgard" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1898-births", "1980-deaths", "people-from-folldal-municipality", "people-from-oppdal-municipality", "university-of-oslo-alumni", "norwegian-literary-critics", "norwegian-writers", "norwegian-film-directors", "nynorsk-language-writers", "norwegian-humanists", "academic-staff-of-the-oslo-national-academy-of-the-arts", "academic-staff-of-the-university-of-oslo", "mot-dag", "sachsenhausen-concentration-camp-survivors"] description: "Norwegian literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olav_Dalgard" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Norwegian literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Olav Dalgard
image	OlavDalgard3.png
caption	Olav Dalgard before 1948.
birth_name	Olaf Hanssen
birth_date
birth_place	Folldal Municipality, Norway
death_date
death_place	Bærum Municipality, Norway
alma_mater	University of Oslo
occupation	Literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator
party	Arbeiderpartiet
spouse
children
awards	{{plainlist
::

| name = Olav Dalgard | image = OlavDalgard3.png | caption = Olav Dalgard before 1948. | birth_name = Olaf Hanssen | birth_date = | birth_place = Folldal Municipality, Norway | death_date = | death_place = Bærum Municipality, Norway | alma_mater = University of Oslo | occupation = Literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator | party = Arbeiderpartiet | spouse = | children = | awards = {{plainlist|

• Literary Collection Literature Prize (1979)
• Arts Council Norway Honorary Award (1978) Olav Dalgard (June 19, 1898 – December 25, 1980) was a Norwegian literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator.

Biography

Dalgard was born Olaf Hanssen in Folldal Municipality, in Hedmark, Norway. From the age of three, he was raised in Oppdal Municipality in Trøndelag. He earned an M.A. degree in literature and art history at the University of Oslo in 1929. He was an advocate of the use of Nynorsk and served as the chairman of the student Nynorsk association. He was also involved in the Mot Dag movement.

Dalgard worked as a literary critic for the newspapers Dagbladet and Arbeiderbladet. Dalgard took over as dramatic advisor and instructor for Det Norske Teateret in 1931 and was involved with the theater for 48 years.

He studied film in the Soviet Union and in the 1930s produced several films with a socialist message. Dalgard was also active in the Norwegian Labour Party's cultural operations. During the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Dalgard was arrested in 1942, held as a political prisoner by German authorities and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Dalgard was involved in the establishment of the Norwegian Film Institute and was a member of the state film board. Among his most famous works was Gryr i Norden (1939). Dalgard both wrote the script and directed the film which was a dramatization of the Kristiania Match Workers' Strike of 1889 (fyrstikkarbeiderstreiken). He also wrote a number of books about theater and film as well as biographies including Teateret frå Aiskylos til Ibsen (nonfiction, 1948), Filmskuespillet (nonfiction, 1951), Teateret i det 20. hundreåret (nonfiction, 1955), Lars Tvinde (biography of Lars Tvinde, 1966) and Inge Krokann (biography of Inge Krokann, 1970).

Dalgard was chairman of the Norwegian Literature Critics' Association from 1953 to 1955, and president of the Norwegian Humanist Association from 1965 to 1977. From 1961, Dalgard received a government grant. He was a lecturer in theater history at the Norwegian National Academy of Theatre (Statens teaterhøgskole) and at the Department of Theater Science at the University of Oslo.

Personal life

In 1926, he married Anna Marie Sorteberg (1897–1968). They resided at Voll in Akershus. Psychiatrist was their son.

In 1978 he accepted the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award (Norsk Kulturråds ærespris) and in 1979 he received the Literary Collection Literature Prize (Språklig samlings litteraturpris).

Dalgard died in Bærum Municipality in 1980.

The award Dalgards kritikarpris, now known as **, was awarded for the first time in 1981. It is given annually to a reviewer in literature, film, or theater by the Norwegian Critics' Association (Kritikerlaget).

Works

Books

• Frøydis Haavardsholm (1930)

• Sosialt teater (1933)

• Vi bygger fabrikken (1934)

• I kamp og fest - Nordisk arbeiderlyrikk i utvalg (1936)

• Gjennom mørkret. Dikt frå fangelægret (1945)

• Filmskuespillet (1951)

• Lars Tvinde (1966)

• Inge Krokann (1970)

• Europeisk drama frå antikken til realismen (1972)

• Samtid 1. Politikk, kunstliv og kulturkamp i mellomkrigstida (1973)

• Teatret frå Aiskylos til Ibsen (1974)

• Teatret i det 20. hundreåret (1976)

• Samtid 2. Krig og etterkrigsproblem (1978)

• Kunst og kunstnarar frå Oppdal i gammal og ny tid (1979)

Films

• ** (1935)
• Vi bygger landet (1936)
• By og land hand i hand (1937)
• Det drønner gjennom dalen (1938)
• Lenkene brytes (1938)
• Gryr i Norden (1939)
• Om kjærlighet synger de (1946)
• Vi vil leve (1946)

References

References

1. Lillian Bikset. "Olav Dalgard". Store norske leksikon.
2. Kari Gaarder Losnedahl. "Olav Dalgard". Norsk biografisk leksikon.
3. "Mot Dag". leksikon.org.
4. "Olav Dalgard". Allkunne.
5. Knut Dørum. "fyrstikkarbeiderstreiken". Store norske leksikon.
6. Thingsaker, Bjørn. "fyrstikkarbeiderstreiken". Kunnskapsforlaget.
7. Steenfeldt-Foss, Otto. (2011-05-20). "Minneord". Tidsskrift for den Norske Legeforening.
8. (September 10, 1934). "Hvem bor hvor". Asker og Bærums Budstikke.
9. "Olav Dalgards kritikarpris". Kritikerlaget.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::