Erik Bye

He was born Erik Erikssøn Bye in Brooklyn, New York in 1926 to Norwegian parents. The family returned home to Norway when Erik was to begin school. After a few years at Ringerike, Norway, they moved to Nordstrand - a suburb to Oslo. As a teenager he got involved in the resistance movement fighting the Germans occupying norway.

He ended up having to escape to Sweden, where he joined the "Norwegian policetroops" (whose part it was to keep the peace and arrest war-criminals when the war ended in 1945 and they could all return home). After World War II he went back to the United States to study English, and finally he got a degree in journalism and drama at Midland Collega in Nebraska and the University of Wisconsin.

In 1953 he started his career as a journalist in the American news agency Associated Press' Norwegian office. The same year he married politician Tove Bye.

He also worked for the BBC in London before beginning his long-term relationship with NRK (Norwegian National Broadcasting) in 1958, first in radio and later in television. He was to become the biggest and most popular name in Norwegian broadcasting hosting several extremely popular TV shows. In one special christmas show he surprised a female guest with Santa Claus who - when he pulled off his mask - turned out to be his husband who she thought was in Hong Kong. Another time he had a hilarious interview with Danny Kaye and even did a comedy sketch spoofing westerns with actor 'Ken Curtis' who played Festus in the then popular "Gunsmoke".

Back in the 1960s when the subject of Down's syndrome was considered taboo, he invited several guests with Down's Syndrome. They were there not because of their condition but to perform a number from a musical act they did, and he treated them like he would any other guests. Later he received a letter from a woman who said that after watching that show she finally dared to take her child with Down's Syndrome out in public. Bye later commented that just that one letter made it all worth while.

In 1961, when he and the producers were trying to come up with fresh new ideas for his TV-show "Vi går ombord" they decided to use Norwegian sailors to drop bottled messages around the world, encouraging the recipients to answer back. One of the answers came from Andoalu Kwejan II, tribal chief of the coastal village of Ngelekazo in Ghana. As a result the chief was invited to Norway in March of 1962 for the TV-show but it also turned out to be the beginning of a life-long friendship between the Norwegian TV-star Bye and the African tribal chief. Shortly after, when Bye visited the village of Ngelekazo for the first time he made sure they got electricity, something that changed the village forever. The friendship between the two was again underlined when the Chief named his son 'Erik Bye Anman'. Later the Chief's grandson was also named 'Erik Bye'. The last time (the original) Erik Bye visited the village was in 1997. The original chief had passed away, but his family and the rest of the villagers all treated Bye as a king. He stayed there for two weeks before leaving with tears in his eyes, knowing it would be the last time he saw his African friends.

To top it all off he was also an actor, co-starring in legendary director Arne Skouen's 1966 movie "Reisen til havet". He was also well-known for his love of the sea, and his commitment to the sailors of World War II and Norwegian seamen in general.

Among his many awards are three Norwegian Grammys (Spelemannsprisen) for 1972, 1981 and 2003, Doctor of Letters Midland College (USA), Knight 1st Class of the Order of St. Olav (highest order in Norway), the Icelandic Falk Order (Iceland) and the Distinguished International Alumni Award (USA).

As late as 1992 he enjoyed one of his greatest successes on the small screen with his TV series "Jakten på Mangas Coloradas" - an historic exploration with the Apaches in America. With a strong love for America he also spent his entire life spotlighting the injustice native Americans had endured through the years. To Norwegians Erik Bye was not just a reporter, or a journalist or a tv-star, he was also a highly successful recording artist as well as a respected author and one of his generations leading poets. The poem "Vårherres klinkekule" (Our Lords Marble) is one of the most beloved in the history of Norwegian poetry.

In 1994 he hosted the first ever Nobel Peace Prize Concert. As the Oslo-based show has grown considerable in size, later hosts have been Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange and Anthony Hopkins, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones and in 2004; Oprah Winfrey and Tom Cruise.

On the day of his funeral, Friday October 22nd 2004, flags were lowered to half mast on all official buildings in Norway, including the office of the Prime Minister. The funeral service was broadcast live on national TV, on Norway's largest network (NRK).