Charlotte Lindmark was a prima ballerina at the royal theatre (Kungliga Teatern) in Stockholm, and also an actress. She was active in the mid-1800s.
Charlotte Lindmark was born Anna Charlotta Lindmark in 1819 in Stockholm. She was the daughter of a poor hatter. In 1826, she performed as an actress in Anders Selinder’s children’s theatre group and two years later she was accepted as a ballet pupil at the Swedish royal ballet. There she advanced to prima ballerina in 1834—1839. She resigned from the ballet however in 1839, at the age of only twenty, since she was, according to description, suffering from “chest illness” and “broken by gout”.
Charlotte Lindmark was thereafter to make a career as an actress. In 1839—1842 she was engaged at Djurgårdsteatern in Stockholm, where she was a success with her ”naïve and pleasant acting” and she aroused great hopes for the future. In 1842, she was employed by the Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, also in Stockholm, where she made her debut in the role of Lady Arabella in Ett farligt giftermål by Eugène Sue. After that, she performed in Fredrik Deland’s travelling theatre company. She also had engagements in Olof Ulrik Torsslow’s company in which she often played the part of a ”charming ingenue”. From 1845 until 1858, Charlotte Lindmark was engaged at Mindre teatern in Stockholm.
It was at Mindre teatern that Charlotte Lindmark was to enjoy her greatest successes as an actress. She often played the main roles in comedies and ”intrigue plays”, and was praised for her timing, her fresh emotions and heartfelt expression. In the major Swedish evening newspaper Aftonbladet it was possible to read on the 13 October 1846 about her interpretation of the main role in Marie-Jeanne, Qvinnan af Folket that was animatedly appreciated by the audience with ”repeated and lively applauds”. She was described as ”brilliant and superior” in her interpretation of the role of the mother in Par droit de conquète by Ernest Legouvé, ”alone in this field, with everyone else left far behind”, as her actor colleague Frans Hedberg expressed it. In Den ondes besegrare by Th Overskou, Charlotte Lindmark in the role of Veronika conveyed ”the storms of passion and the suffering of a broken heart” in a gripping way, according to one theatre critic. For her contribution in the title roles in Queen Kristina by Jeanette Granberg and in Narcisse Rameau by Albert Brachvogel she received brilliant reviews. On her gifts in the latter one charmed critic wrote that: ”M:ll Lindmark dies divinely.”
Charlotte Lindmark’s empathy with the characters she played and her capacity to express the feelings of her role figures are often praised by critics. She could sometimes be described as a child in the practice of her art, and by that was meant her spontaneity and naturalness. Charlotte Lindmark suffered all the time from bad health, which sometimes strengthened her role interpretations. As the publicist Johan Carl Hellberg formulated it: ”Perhaps she was the only one who could weep naturally on the stage.” It has been recounted that after performances she sometimes just sank down almost fainting on a chair, and people were amazed that she was able to continue to perform, despite her bodily torments.
Charlotte Lindmark died in 1858 at the age of thirty-nine, of ”a chest illness”.
