Early life and career
Elg was born on 9 March 1930 in Helsinki, [1] [2] and raised in Turku by her parents, Åke Elg (né Ludwig), a Finnish pianist, and Helena Doroumova (who was of Russian descent). [3] She was signed to a seven-year contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the mid-1950s. In 1957, she won the Golden Globe for the Foreign Newcomer Award – Female. She won another Golden Globe in 1958 for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy for her performance in Les Girls , tying with her co-star, Kay Kendall. [4]
In 1958, she was nominated for a Golden Laurel as Top New Female Personality. In 1959, she starred alongside Kenneth More in The 39 Steps . In 1975, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez in Where's Charley? . She appeared in the original Broadway production of Nine as Guido Contini's mother. In 1989, she had the title role as Lea in Chéri, from a Colette novel as adapted by Anita Loos. [5] In 1980, she played Dr. Ingrid Fischer on CBS daytime drama soap opera Guiding Light . From 1980 to 1982, she played Olympia Buchanan, first wife of tycoon Asa Buchanan, on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live . Her character, held prisoner by Asa for months, had a memorable death sequence, falling over a balcony at a costume party.
Personal life and death
Her son by her first marriage to Carl-Gustav Björkenheim, which ended in divorce in 1960, [6] is the jazz guitarist Raoul Björkenheim. In 1985, Elg married Rocco Caporale, an Italian-born educator and professor of sociology. Elg lived for a long time on the Upper East Side, in Manhattan, in New York City, but later returned to Finland. Elg was an American and Finnish dual citizen.
Elg died at a nursing home in Helsinki, on 15 May 2025, at the age of 95. [2] [7] [8] [9]
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