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Anna-Lisa
was born in Oslo, Norway in 1933 as Anne-Lise Ruud. As a child, she became
involved in the children's theater her brother ran, inspiring her to become
an actress.
She
first came to the U.S. as an au-pair for a family in California. She visited
the local theaters and took acting lessons before she was discovered by
the agent Walther Kohner during a local production of "Lorca's Blood
Wedding."
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Anna-Lisa
soon landed a role in network television. Her break came in 1958
when she was cast in an episode of "Sugarfoot," a television
western produced by Warner Brothers. Those were the days when the
"adult westerns" were in vogue, and Warner Brothers proceeded
to hand her prominent roles that year in episodes of other western
series it produced, "Maverick," "Bronco," and
"Cheyenne."
That
studio also cast her in 1960 in two of its popular non-western series,
"77 Sunset Strip" and "Surfside Six."
At
right, she appears with "77 Sunset Strip" star Ephrem
Zimbalist Jr. in an episode titled, "Spark of Freedom,"
set in Budapest.
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The
highpoint of Anna-Lisa's career came when she appeared as a regular
in a series. Though a relative novice in television, she bagged the
role of Nora Travers in the Four Star production of "Black Saddles."
That series ran from January to September of 1959 on NBC and October,
1959 to September, 1960 on ABC. She played opposite Peter Breck, with
whom she is seen at left. Breck portrayed a lawyer and former gunslinger
in the New Mexico Territory, and Anna-Lisa's role was that of the
owner of the Marathon Hotel where the lawyer was headquartered. |
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Columbia
Pictures was impressed with Anna-Lisa's work and gave her starring
roles in two films, "Have Rocket Will Travel" (1959) and
"12 to the Moon" (1960). At right is Anna-Lisa on a poster
for the latter picture. Neither film proved to advance her career.
She continued doing TV work until the early 1970s.
Among
the series in which Anna-Lisa appeared were "Day in Court,"
"Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," "Lloyd Bridges Show,"
"Westinghouse Playhouse," "The Millionaire,"
"Garrison's Gorilla," "Laramie," "Islanders,"
"Room for One More," "True," "Eleventh Hour,"
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "Death Valley
Days," "Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "That Girl,"
"Run For Your Life," and "Ben Casey."
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Anna-Lisa toured the U.S. with various stage productions, working
alongside Bob Cummings in "Tunnel of Love," Victor Bruno
in "Tartuffe," John Carradine in "Merchant of Venice"
and Constance Bennett and Joan Fountaine in "Marriage-Go-Around."
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The
actress returned to Norway in 1974. She was employed at Oslo Central
Theater at the time she went into semi-retirement in 1995.
Her
recent appearances in the stage productions of "Stepping Out"
and "Invisible Town" have introduced her to a new generation
of theater-goers.
She
lives in Oslo, Norway's capital and the city in which she was born.
At left is a photograph of her taken in 2000 by Niels Petter Solberg.
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