Svend Asmussen

Acting

Svend Asmussen

Born 1916-02-28 · Copenhagen, Denmark

Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Stephane Grappelli. He played publicly until 2010 when he had a blood clot, his career having spanned eight decades. Asmussen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, was raised in a musical family, and started taking violin lessons at the age of seven. Aged 16 he first heard recordings by jazz violinist Joe Venuti and began to emulate his style. He started working professionally as a violinist, vibraphonist, and singer at age 17, leaving his formal training behind for good. Early in his career he worked in Denmark and on cruise ships, with artists such as Josephine Baker and Fats Waller. Asmussen later was greatly influenced by Stuff Smith, whom he met in Denmark. Asmussen played with Valdemar Eiberg and Kjeld Bonfils during World War II, during which time jazz had moved to the underground and served as a form of political protest. In the late 1950s, Asmussen formed the trio Swe-Danes with singer Alice Babs and guitarist Ulrik Neumann. The group became quite successful in Scandinavia for their music hall style entertainment and also toured the United States. Asmussen also worked with Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, and Duke Ellington. Asmussen was invited by Ellington to play on his Jazz Violin Session recording in 1963 with Stéphane Grappelli and Ray Nance. In 1966, Asmussen appeared alongside Grappelli, Stuff Smith, and Jean-Luc Ponty in a jazz Violin Summit in Switzerland that was issued as a live recording. He made an appearance at the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival, which included a celebrated violin summit with him, Ray Nance and Jean-Luc Ponty. In 1969, he guested on Snakes in a Hole, an album by the jazz-rock band Made in Sweden. He was still active playing violin at the age of 94. Asmussen became a centenarian on 28 February 2016. He died peacefully in his sleep on 7 February 2017, just 3 weeks before his 101st birthday. Asmussen's collection of jazz music, photographs, posters and other material is held in the jazz collections at the University Library of Southern Denmark. Asmussen's son, Claus Asmussen, is a guitar player in Denmark and a former member of the band Shu-Bi-Dua. Source: Article "Svend Asmussen" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Drömsemester poster
7.0

The Danish school teacher Mogens Jensen is on his holiday through Sweden in a rickety T-Ford.

Drömsemester

1952

A Hullaballoo at the Castle poster
5.7

The cheerful, traveling musicians Flink and Villy meet sweet music in the form of two girls. Unfortunately, the chrome nut is tone deaf and chases them away. Luck smiles on them, however, because the nearby castle Bullerborg is abandoned. Flink and Villy move in - and get mixed up in a fight between a cunning lawyer, a bankrupt count and a sausage maker family.

A Hullaballoo at the Castle

1959

Musik ombord poster
7.0

Ulla Winther has retired from her singing career to a marriage with two children. But her agent wants her to return and she finally agrees to take part in a charity concert

Musik ombord

1958

Kispus poster
6.2

When a young woman falls in love with a gown in a shop window it leads to adventure and romance exceeding even her own vivid imagination.

Kispus

1956

Ta' briller paa poster
7.3

Mrs. Adda Ernst is a middle-aged lady of the bourgeoisie. She has a nice husband Mr. Ernst, a lovely home and two healthy children Birgit and Hans, who like most of their peers are interested in swing. Mrs. Adda is musical herself, and has a beautiful singing voice, sometimes she can fall into melancholy over the career she never had. But she is naturally endowed with a rare good mood, she soon sheds her sad mood. In reality, she has only one worry. She is afraid of getting old, and therefore makes some convulsive efforts to still seem young. She refuses to realize that her daughter has grown up.

Ta' briller paa

1942

Mit Liv er Musik poster
6.7

We meet the young violinist Erik Smith in the lap of his family with his wife Lise and his little daughter Lone. Erik is a young, aspiring musician who dreams of one day making a career as an interpreter of the great masters of music. At a concert where a well-known solo violinist has to interrupt, Erik Smith suddenly jumps in and gets his big breakthrough.

Mit Liv er Musik

1944

Hvad vil De ha'? poster
5.1

A film director sends his director and two screenwriters out into the city to find out what a film should contain in order for the person in question to want to see it. This results in many different episodes. The film includes the famous scene where Dirch Passer and Kjeld Petersen wallpaper a room.

Hvad vil De ha'?

1956

Pippi Longstocking poster
7.3

In a small town lies Villa Villerkulla, and in that villa a small girl, Pippi Longstocking, has moved in with her horse and monkey.

Pippi Longstocking

1949

Putte Wickman à la clarinette poster
NR

Documentary about the Swedish clarinettist Putte Wickman featuring interviews and performances.

Putte Wickman à la clarinette

1991

Op og ned langs kysten poster
7.5

Once upon a time, large, beautiful seaside hotels adorned the coast of Øresund – from Bellevue Strandhotel in the south to Hornbæk Badehotel in the north. While the film's director, Stig Lommer, was director of the Hornbæk revues, he was a frequent guest at the bars in these hotels. He loved the glamorous life in this setting and asked Arvid Müller to write a light-hearted "Sommer-Lommer-Spøg" (Summer Joke) about the "deeds of the night" at a seaside hotel. The now defunct Beaulieu (north of Taarbæk) and Marienlyst (in Helsingør) form the backdrop for bandleader Hans Herbert and his pursuit of summer guest Mrs. Winter. This drives the exchange broker to a spontaneous suicide attempt in the middle of a mannequin show. However, he is saved by Mrs. Holgersen, who believes it is for her sake, so she blossoms completely. So much so that she is completely unrecognizable to the manufacturer when he arrives at the hotel.

Op og ned langs kysten

1950

Swing it, Boccaccio poster
5.5

The theater director Sten Rampe, Svend Blom and Ulrik Blad are on their way to Sten's summer house and suddenly get a flat tire. The fate brings them together with seven young women whose car has fallen out for the same accident.

Swing it, Boccaccio

1949

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Rejsefeber

1944

The Egborg Girl poster
6.8

If your name is Kaj Jensen and you live on Frederiksborggade, there is a certain likelihood that you will be confused with Kaj Jensen on Fredriksberggade. But when botanist John Søgård from Mariendalsvej is mistaken for whaler John Søgård from the South Pole, who is home on vacation, it's not so smart. And disaster strikes! But in this case, it suddenly turns into a stroke of luck...

The Egborg Girl

1969

En lille Tilfældighed poster
7.7

The young folk singer Peter Jespersen has returned from abroad and is now without a contract. He approaches director Andresen of the Alhambra Theatre, but is rejected, and Peter understands from the conversation that it will be important for him to get an impresario who can take care of the business for him. He approaches the theatre agents Bang and Mathisen, whose motto is: "If you have the talent, we will get you the contract".

En lille Tilfældighed

1939

Naar katten er ude poster
6.7

It's not always easy being a father – archivist Jørgensen knows this all too well. His only son, Bent, is more interested in the band he and his friends have formed than in his studies. One evening, as the house shakes with syncopated rhythms, the archivist loses his hard-won patience and gives his son the choice between giving up his music or moving out of the house. The next day, Bent seeks out his two friends to complain about his plight, but his friends have more than enough of their own worries, which can be summed up in one word: money.

Naar katten er ude

1947

No artwork available
NR

The jazz clarinetist and bandleader dubbed the King of Swing performs his final concert in 1980 at an unassuming club in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens.

Legends in Concert: Benny Goodman

2004

Behind the camera