Hester Sondergaard (July 5, 1903 – February 26, 1994)[1] was an American actress.
Born in Litchfield, Minnesota,[2] Sondergaard was the daughter of Hans T. Søndergaard, a dairy instructor at a university, and the sister of actress Gale Sondergaard.[3] When she was a child, she played violin with Midwestern Chautauqua companies.[2] She attended the University of Minnesota,[4] where she was active in productions of the Masquers Club.[3]
Sondergaard's first professional speaking part came in 1924.[3] After college, she acted with the Wisconsin Players and in venues that included the Civic Repertory Theater in New York.[4] Her Broadway credits include Galileo (1947), My Heart's in the Highlands (1939), Marching Song (1937), Bitter Stream (1936), Mother (1935), and Black Pit (1935).[5]
On radio, Sondergaard was an organizer of The American School of the Air.[4] She also acted on Portia Faces Life, Road of Life, Wendy Warren and the News,[2] and We Love and Learn.[6] An article in the December 1949 issue of Radio and Television Mirror magazine described Sondergaard as having "one of the largest repertories [sic] of dialects of any actress", being able to sound authentic in roles using any of 11 accents.[2]
Sondergaard taught dramatics at the Dramatic School of New York.[4]
In 1949, Sondergaard married politician Hugh De Lacy.[7]
