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Taina Elg, best known for starring in the musical Les Girls with Gene Kelly, has died at age 95 in a care home in Helsinki, Finland. Her family shared the news with the Helsinki Times.
She won a Golden Globe in 1957 as Best Foreign Newcomer and another in 1958 for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy for Les Girls.
In 1975, she received a Tony nomination for her performance in the Broadway musical Where's Charley?. In the 1980s, she acted in soap operas, Guiding Light and One Life to Live.
Taina Elg's life and career explored
Taina Elisabeth Elg was born in Helsinki on March 9, 1930. Her parents were pianists. She attended the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki and then went to Sweden to study ballet in Stockholm and Gothenburg, as well as in London with the Royal Ballet.
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She did her first acting gig at the age of ten. In London, while studying ballet, American film producer Edwin H. Knopf discovered her. Elg signed a seven-year contract with MGM, an American film and television production and distribution company.
Elg debuted in the 1955 film The Prodigal, which starred Lana Turner and Edmund Purdom. In 1956, she acted in the historical drama film Diane. The same year, she received a Golden Globe for Best Female Foreign Newcomer for her performance in Gaby.
In 1957, she got her big break in the acting industry with Les Girls, which starred Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, and Patrick Macnee. Both Kay Kendall and Taina Elg won a Golden Globe for Best Actress.
She then worked in various films, including The 39 Steps, Imitation General, Watusi, among others. Elg then shifted to Broadway musicals. Her last film, The Mirror Has Two Faces, was released in 1996.
Taina Elg was married to her first husband, Carl Bjorkenheim, from 1953 to 1958. The actress married Rocco Caporale in 1982. They were together until he died in 2008.
In an interview with the Finland Center in September 2018, the actress shared how actors used to take singing and drama coaching at MGM. Elg shared that the actors used to focus on their eyes while taking lessons.
"During these sessions we worked on things like using our eyes when acting," she said.
Taina Elg also shared her love for New York City, the place where she lived for 30 years. She said the city offers people "magnificent" job opportunities, as people from all around the world come to New York City.
"In New York, you have the opportunity to meet people from all around the world; this gives New Yorkers a magnificent possibility to learn from one another," the actress stated.
Taina Elg is survived by her son, jazz guitarist Raoul Björkenheim.
