Hollywood Actress and Dancer Taina Elg Celebrates 80th Birthday

Finnish-American Hollywood actress and dancer Taina Elg turns eighty today. She is best remembered for her leading parts in Hollywood movies, such as Cole Porter's "Les Girls" (1957) and Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" (1959). She also appeared in the 1991 version of "Liebestraum", The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) and a touring stage version of the "Titanic".

Taina Elg was born in Helsinki on March 9, 1930, but the family relocated soon after her birth to Turku. Both her parents were pianists. Her mother, Helena Dobroumova, was a Russian immigrant and father, Åke Elg, was from the Swedish-speaking minority. Her parents divorced in 1933, and young Taina moved with her mother around several cities in Karelia and briefly to the Åland Islands. At the time World War II broke out, Taina resided again in Helsinki, where she started taking ballet classes. Since age twelve, she has spent only short periods in her native country, traveling the world, starting from Denmark in 1942.

Before Elg became a Hollywood star, she had parts in three Finnish movies, Suomisen perhe (The Suominen Family) in 1941, Levoton Veri (Restless Blood) and Naimisiin päiväksi (Married for a Day), both in 1946.

Elg entered Hollywood and acting after an injury to her ankle falling down a flight of stairs backstage a theater ended her ballet career in 1953. Her seven years as a contract player at MGM took place at the worst possible time for a ballet-trained musical performer. She played in The Prodigal in 1955; Diane and Gaby, both in 1956; Les Girls in 1957; Imitation General in 1958; Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and Watusi, both in 1959.

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. In 1958 she was nominated for a Golden Laurel as Top New Female Personality.

Since the 50s, Elg has had sporadic parts on stage and screen. In 1980-81 she played in ABC's soap opera One Life to Live, and in the 1990s in two movies, Liebestraum in 1991, and The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996.

Taina Elg's autobiography was published in 1991. She wrote the original manuscript in English which was translated into Finnish. The book describes her childhood and her years as a ballet dancer and she ends her book in Paris in 1953, before her first marriage and her Hollywood career.