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This means that the last great has disappeared from the classic revue Gula Hund. Those of us who have no memories of these years, but are referred to grainy clips of the Hasseåtage performance at Chinateatern, may legitimately question whether Birgitta Andersson did not already possess the ensemble’s greatest talent.
In any case, it would eventually become almost obvious for the productions of Hasse Alfredson and Tage Danielsson (or Svenska Ord). Just think of her appearances in films such as Attngør en brygga, The Apple War, The Egg is on the Loose and The Adventures of Picasso.
Birgitta Andersson’s numerous collaborations with Hasseåtage may be outstanding, but they formed only a small part of her long career. The merit list is huge and extends in many directions. There are over 50 feature films here, as many revues, a lot of stage humor and other theater, with greats like Povel Ramel, Beppe Wolgers, Gösta Ekman, Meg Westergren and Rolv Wesenlund. And here are Sweden’s most popular children’s programs and groundbreaking Christmas calendars. Among other things.
And her entire career is characterized by her flexible timing and her feeling for a rhythm that is always maintained. Birgitta Andersson was blessed with a unique comedic ability. And obviously Star quality.
Someone said that Birgitta Andersson was so talented that she could make something beautiful out of a telephone book. It not only tells us something about the time when Birgitta Andersson was at her best, but also what she could do with a text. It seems that she hardly wanted what she wanted.
She was, of course, well-read and practiced in everything she did, but you can hear, not to mention see, how she went her own little way in the script when it suited her better. She has listened to the situation and seems to be able to think about her next sentence in a flash. Perhaps it was an expression of her “anarchist imagination,” as Suzanne Osten aptly wrote. Or perhaps she simply had a naturally gifted ear that cannot be trained. That meant that somehow she always kept the sketch, the scene, alive.
Perhaps the most famous example of such a personal invention was “Göta Petter! Now I was as small as a teaspoon again!” As the homemade exclamation rang out from Sweden’s teak-clad televisions, every single child, and even more adults, rushed into living rooms and clubhouses to watch Andersson shrink into a thumb-sized aunt. The series “The Old Woman Who Was As Small as a Teaspoon” was broadcast as a Christmas calendar on Swedish television in 1967, when the concept was not yet as popular with viewers as it would later become. This is where it started. Birgitta Andersson’s free interpretation of Alf Prøysen’s literary work – such as the transformation of “Teskjekjerringa” into a Västgothic old lady – is said to have attracted two and a half million viewers. No wonder Teskedsgumman, which the title was later rationalized into, became its own series in 1973 and the original was repeated several times.
That also applied to one of them another Christmas calendar with a shrunken Birgitta Andersson in the foreground. 1979’s Trolltider, in which Andersson played the cautious troll Daisy, the sister of Eva Rydberg’s Gloria who stood just five inches above sea level, was scheduled to air in reruns in both 1985 and (in January) 1995.
Perhaps today’s middle-aged Swedes remember Birgitta Andersson even more clearly through the children’s program “From A to Z”. Here she played, and as She played Hedvig Hök, who was evicted from her rental agreement and lived in a forgotten construction shed in the forest. There, Bert-Åke Varg’s wise owl Helge was able to help Hedvig understand the meaning of things from his nest on the roof. So that her nose didn’t have to grow, as it often did when she didn’t understand something. For example, the terminated rental agreement or if public law applied to the construction trailer. The series, one episode per letter and as educational as it was funny and critical of civilization, ran in the winter of 1974/75 and became something of an institution: an audience of millions, repeats and finally DVD releases.
In later interviews, Birgitta Andersson highlighted “From A to Z” as one of the highlights of her career. In any case, it is one of the most beautiful examples of her ability to improvise, her flexibility – and her looks. Because in the middle of the monologues, between her distracted humming of a song, her fiddling with this and that in the booth, this was an actor looking at his young audience, not just talking to them.
Was it this look? Who made “Handlarns Britta,” as Birgitta Andersson was called when she grew up between Mariestad and Götene (stepfather Karl had a general store), so good and so popular in so many camps? Everyone seems to have a relationship with at least one of her characters, from Linda Münning in the old dance restaurant sketch “Får jag lov” with Hatte Furuhagen and Hasse Alfredson to Doris in her six Jönsson League films. Or Miss Brewster in “Arsenic and old Lace” at Maximteatern. Or Barbro in “Allram’s Highlights Package” (Christmas Calendar Again, 2004) on SVT.
Or maybe it was because she seemed to be having so much fun? Whatever she played over the years, there was a small smile hidden at the corner of her mouth. Often a little ironic. Just the right amount of suppressed joy. Like when she was very young and founded the Atelier Theater in Gothenburg with some friends (she never got into the Stadsteatern’s stage school) and discovered that acting was her passion. Maybe more than work. She didn’t let go of this desire to act until she had grandchildren, to whom she devoted more and more time. Maybe she felt they were even more fun.
There is something very typical in Birgitta Andersson’s answer when she received the honorary award in memory of Gösta Ekman at the end of 2018 at the age of 85 and was asked how she would celebrate: “I will eat ice cream.”
And then that little smile on the corner of his mouth.
Birgitta Andersson year after year
1933 Born on April 20th in Mariestad.
1951 Founding of the Atelierteatern in Gothenburg with, among others, Marie Gyllenspetz and Dan Sjögren, two friends who, like Andersson, were also not accepted into the theater school of the Gothenburg City Theater.
1953 Starts playing at the Alléteatern in Stockholm. In the rest of the 1950s she mixed theater (Alléteatern, Oscars, Intiman and others) with film: mostly comedies, but also things like the thriller classic Clouds over Hellesta.
1960 Up stands out in Hagge Geigert’s Visby Revue and can be seen in more and more revues and other stage comedians in the following years, including Tage Danielsson, Povel Ramel and Mille Schmidt.
1964 Revue breakthrough with “Gula Hund” in the Chinateatern in Stockholm.
1965 Marries the Norwegian writer and playwright Anders Bye, with whom she has a son the following year, the later musician and composer Matti Bye.
1965 Plays in Hasseåtage’s film “Attngøra en brygga” and appears with the duo several times in the future, in “The Apple War” (1971), “Egget är solves” (1975) and in “Picasso’s Adventure” (1978).
1967 Göta Petter, what a second breakthrough! Anderson plays “The Old Woman Who Was Small as a Teaspoon” in the Christmas Calendar. The series established the Christmas calendar on television and attracted an audience of millions.
1973 Has her second child, daughter Hanna (now a set designer, married to Gradin) with the author and writer Carl “Z” Zetterström, with whom Birgitta lived for many years.
1974 The next big TV breakthrough: “From AZ,” where Birgitta Andersson plays Hedvig Hök, who has trouble understanding words but is supported by the owl Helge (Bert-Åke Varg). One of the most popular children’s shows of the 1970s.
1983 is Miss Brewster in “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the Maxim Theater. One of several successful stage roles in the eighties, such as “Hotelliggaren” (1986) and “Omaka par” (1987).
1984 Plays in the third Jönsson League film “Warning about the Jönsson League” and becomes Doris to the cinema audience. He then appears again in the Jönsson league films “… appears again” (1988), “… on Mallorca” (1989), “… & the black diamond” (1992), “… biggest coup” (1995) and “… plays loud” (2000).
2008 Plays Halvgalna Hexmamma Harriet in the popular children’s series Häxan Surtant on SVT.
2016 Awarded with the Hedersguldbaggen.
2018 Receives the “Swedish Humor Prize” in memory of Gösta Ekman
2026 Died at the age of 92, surrounded by his children and grandchildren
