Danish actress Connie Nielsen recently starred in the Gladiator sequel, AND will play Eleanor of Aquitaine in the upcoming Robin Hood TV series with Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham. So it seems like a good time to run her down!
The only role that I can’t find an image for is:
- Tall Blonde Woman (uncredited) in Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012)
Otherwise, let’s do this!
Lucilla in Gladiator (2000)
An epic historical adventure set in 180 AD in the Roman Empire, in which a general becomes an enslaved gladiator and then rises through the ranks to seek his revenge. Lucilla was the daughter of previous emperor Marcus Aurelius, served as empress while married to her father’s co-ruler, but by the time of this film she’s simply the sister of the current emperor.
Margaret Utinsky in The Great Raid (2005)
Based on a true story, about “The Raid at Cabanatuan,” in which Allied POWs and civilizians were rescude from a Japanese camp in the Philippines.
Duchess Kipiani in Ali and Nino (2016)
Based on a 1937 novel, this is a love story of a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Azerbaijan from 1918 to 1920.
Mrs. Grjothornet in Løvekvinnen (2016)
Aka The Lion Woman. A feature film adaptation of a novel about a young woman with hypertrichosis, causing abnormal hair growth, set in the 1920s.
Hippolyta in Wonder Woman (2017)
She plays Wonder Woman’s mother in the World War I-set feature film.
Koranda in The Catcher Was a Spy (2018)
A biopic about real-life baseball player and World War II spy, Moe Berg. I can’t remember what Nielsen’s character was about!
Corinna Hodel in I Am the Night (2019)
“Set in 1965, it focuses on Fauna Hodel, an adopted teenager who uncovers the truth behind her maternal ancestry, specifically her connection to her grandfather George Hodel, a renowned physician and suspect in the Black Dahlia murder” per Wikipedia.
Lena Moser Drabowski in I’ll Find You (2019)
“Two musicians, one Catholic and one Jewish, caught up in the chaos of Poland’s invasion by Nazi Germany” (Wikipedia).
Karen in The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen (2022)
A bio-series about the Danish author Karen Blixen and her return to Denmark after the events that inspired Out of Africa.
Lucilla in Gladiator II (2024)
The sequel to Gladiator (above). More emperors, more gladiators!
Robin Hood (upcoming)
She’ll be playing the famous French-then-English queen in the upcoming TV series.
Which is your favorite of Connie Nielsen’s frock flick roles?
Wonder Woman was actually set in WWI, though that doesn’t impact Connie Nielsen’s part since the Amazons are supposed to effectively be out of time. My assumption was it was because they didn’t want to be accused of copying the Marvel formula too closely by having one of their characters introduced in a WWII film (Captain America: The First Avenger) so shifted the setting by a few decades.
Whoops, typo! Thanks for the catch, fixing it.
Nielsen was pretty cool as Hippolyta. But shouldn’t Eleanor have her hair in a nice wimple or at least braided and pinned up or something? She was in her 60s when Richard was off fighting in the Middle East. Ah, well–it’s important for great queens to be glam.
Eleanor famously rocked the barbette, the linen cap with the chin strap that Eleanor used to minimize her “soft chin” as she aged. So yes, she should not be dressed like THAT. However, even her maturity, I’m sure she must have been glam and fabulous.
The women’s costumes in both “Gladiator” films were inspired by the paintings of Alma Tadema. In other words, it look pretty. Accuracy? Nah.
It amuses me that despite having seen and enjoyed her work in other films, my response to seeing la Belle Connie is to cry “QUEEN OF THE AMAZONS!” (Almost as loudly as when I cry “THE WHITE QUEEN!” whenever I see Ms Rebecca Ferguson in everything).
That’s funny – when I see Rebecca Ferguson, I immediately think of her role in Dr. Sleep. She completely stole that movie, as far as I’m concerned (and looked stunning while doing so).
Rose the Hat!
Would you like a flower?
Connie Nielsen is SO gorgeous. I gotta go with the “padded” entry as my favorite role—Wonder Woman!
I liked “The Dreamer.”
The first two episodes of this new Robin Hood series are out, but Nielsen hasn’t shown up yet. However, in one of the many scenes in which the Sheriff of Nottingham’s sex-crazed daughter beds the captain of the guard, the grommets on the back of her dress will make you tear your hair out.