A full proof star
In the spring of 1911, unknown actor Valdemar Psilander is offered employment at Nordisk Film. The silent movie “At the Prison Gates” becomes a giant success, which propels Psilander straight to the top in the international movie star world.
Already two years later, he is named the most popular male actor in the world by several business magazines, and in the next six years, he makes 83 movies with the polar bear in Valby.
Psilander was a true star and lived large. When he had a shoot, champagne flowed freely, and when he had guests in the “Marketenderiet” lunch parlor, he usually asked to have the tables covered with money rather than a tablecloth. With a pay that was much larger than any other Nordisk Film star, he could do almost anything.
The sky-rocketing fees peaked in 1915, when Psilander received an unheard of yearly pay of 100,000 DKK. In comparison, the next best paid actor of the era, Olaf Fønss, received 14,000 DKK a year. Psilander also traveled in style. When he went home from work, he ordered three carriages: One for his hat, one for his cane, and the last one for the star himself.
Questionable end
On March 6, 1917, Valdemar Psilander suddenly died. He was only 32 years old and at the top of his career. The real cause of his death was never quite established, and rumors flew. One of the most hard-lived rumors is that he was killed in his wardrobe at Nordisk Film – shot at close range by a jealous Russian admirer, who had travelled all the way from St. Petersburg, only to find her
idol in the arms of another woman. If you have any doubts about the truth of the story, you can still find bullet holes in the stove pipe in Psilander’s wardrobe on the Valby lot.
