11 Facts About Gunnar Heiberg

Gunnar Edvard Rode Heiberg was a Norwegian poet, playwright, journalist and theatre critic.

Gunnar Heiberg was born in Christiania a son of judge Edvard Omsen Heiberg and his wife Minna Rode.

Gunnar Heiberg was a brother of Jacob, Anton and Inge Heiberg, as well as an uncle of Hans Heiberg, first cousin of Eivind Heiberg, Gustav Adolf Lammers Heiberg Helge Rode and Kristofer Hansteen, a first cousin once removed of Bernt, Axel and Edvard Heiberg and a second cousin of Jean Heiberg.

Gunnar Heiberg was married to actress Didrikke Tollefsen, whom he met in Bergen, between 1 April 1885 and 1896.

Gunnar Heiberg became a cultural radical, and made his debut as a poet in 1878.

Gunnar Heiberg was a journalist in Verdens Gang from 1896 to 1903, and Paris correspondent for that newspaper from 1897 to 1901.

Gunnar Heiberg was hostile to Oscar II, King in the personal union between Sweden and Norway.

In 1905 Gunnar Heiberg stood forward as an agitator for the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.

Gunnar Heiberg was adamant that the only acceptable solution would be a free and independent Norwegian state, and that no compromise could be made in that regard.

The dissolution went through, but Gunnar Heiberg opposed the Karlstad Treaty, the conditions of which he found "humiliating".

Gunnar Heiberg died in November 1929 in Oslo, and is buried at Vestre gravlund.