Robert Storm Petersen

Actor, illustrator, painter, poet. Born 19 September 1882, died aged 66 on 6 March 1949. Brother of cinematographer Karl Storm Petersen.

The son of a butcher, Storm P. started learning his father’s trade, but soon left the apprenticeship, driven by his great interest in drawing. He studied for a while, and was employed as an illustrator at Ekstrabladet 1902-1905. In 1909 he had his first exhibition as a painter. Pursuing a career as an illustrator and a painter, Storm P. also wanted to express his multi-faceted talent in other ways and got a traineeship at the Casino Theatre, where he made his debut in 1903. His stage talents developed most exuberantly in the cabaret genre, in which he formed a partnership with Chr. Arhoff. In 1930 he was invited to the Royal Danish Theatre where, together with Knud Aage Riisager, he composed the ballet Benzin (which translates as Petrol), which ran three times. Storm P. was a deeply original and imaginative artist who enjoyed an extensive and extremely productive career.

Robert Storm Petersen appeared in the earliest films at Nordisk Film in 1906 and 1907. In his reply to a letter to film historian Ove Brusendorff in 1939, he wrote about this pioneering work: “I was involved in the very first films that Nordisk Film made – none of them were ‘important’ and there was no ‘director’. My work on the film is of such a modest nature that I must be content with saying that I was born on 19 September 1882.” In addition to starring in the films, he also helped to make decorations and came up with ideas for action scenes.
In the early 1920s, Storm P. created a series of animated films and was a pioneer in that field, too.

Literature:
Harald H. Lund et al: Bogen om Storm P. – skrevet af hans venner (which translates as A book about Storm P. – written by his friends, published in 1949).
Arnold Hending: Den glemte Storm P. (which translates as The forgotten Storm P., published in 1964).
Poul Carit Andersen: Livet er en cirkus – en bog om Storm P. og hans tid (which translates as Life is a circus – a book about Storm P. and his time published in 1972).