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Figure Skating Movies

Though many early figure skaters dropped out of the public eye once their competitive days were over, the fascination with three-time Olympic gold medalist Sonia Henie continued well beyond her amateur career. The Norwegian sensation headed for Hollywood and became one of the top-drawing stars of the World War II era. Between 1937 and 1945, Henie made 10 films, including One in a Million (1936), Thin Ice (1937), Sun Valley Serenade (1941), and Iceland (1942). The films paired her with some top leading men and (of course) provided plot lines that gave her a chance to display her figure skating talents.

Though American skating sweetheart Carol Heiss tried her luck at acting with the female lead in Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961) and Germany's Katarina Witt had a bit-part in Ronin (1998), big-screen appearances by notable skaters since Henie have primarily been cameos. Tai Babilonia, Randy Gardner, and Kristi Yamaguchi were among those cast as judges in On Edge (2001), a mock documentary about three atypical figure skaters vying to win their regional competition. Michelle Kwan and Brian Boitano play commentators in Ice Princess, scheduled to be released in March 2005.

Ice Castles (1978) and The Cutting Edge (1992) are perhaps the two best known big-screen films of recent times to deal with figure skating, yet neither featured an Olympic-level skater. Actress Lynn-Holly Johnson, who placed second at the novice level at the 1974 U.S. Championships, did do her own skating for Ice Castles—a story of a girl trying to continue her skating career after an accident leaves her blind. She is helped by her hockey-player boyfriend, played by Robby Benson. The Cutting Edge, a modern The Taming of the Shrew on ice, also deals with the romance of an injured hockey player and a figure skater (played by D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly, respectively) as they attempt to become a successful pairs figure skating team.

—Beth Braccio Hering

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