Sonja Henie

Won 3 olympic gold medals between 1928 and 1936. She was the first skater to parlay her athletic success into a lucrative career.

The picture was very successful, Sonja continued to make a series of light comedies throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s. More a testament to her skating skills and physical appearance than her acting prowess, the films were nevertheless profitable and her popularity soared. Her films' success garnered financial success for the Hollywood Ice Revues that she produced and starred every year.

The daughter of a fur wholesaler in Norway, Sonja Henie received her first pair of ice skates when she was six. At 14 she was the Norwegian Skating Champion. At 15 she would win the Olympic gold medal in Skating, a feat she would repeat in 1932 and 1936.

In 1936 she would turn professional and tour with her own ice show.

She was signed by 20th Century-Fox and debuted in One in a Million (1936), in which she played an ice skater.

In 1940, when the Nazis invaded Norway, she was out of the country. She telegraphed her maid and told her to place a picture of her with Hitler, which he had autographed, in a prominent place in her house. When the Nazis arrived to take over the house, they saw the picture and left quickly. For the rest of the war, all of her possessions were left untouched by the Nazis.

Became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1941.

Her movie career wound down during the mid-'40s, but she continued skating until she retired in 1960.

After her film career had run its course, Henie stayed in the public eye by producing and starring in a series of live, touring ice shows and extravaganzas until just before her death in 1969.

Inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame (1976) and the International Women's Sport Hall of Fame (1982).