Timeline

1. 1917, June 10

   Born Lars Reinhold Schmidt, Uddevalla, Sweden

   

2. 1938

   Worked in coal mines in Swansea, Wales

3. 1938-1939?

   Attended City of London College

4. 1939-1941?

   Served with Bohuslan regiment in Dalshogen, Sweden

5. 1941?

   Established Lars Schmidt & Company with P. T. Hammaren as an entity to obtain plays for production at Gothenburg City Theater

   

6. 1941, March

   Traveled to United States on the M/S Carolina Thorden on first play-buying trip to obtain Swedish publishing/production rights to plays. The ship was attacked by German bombers and its passengers stranded in the Faroe Islands. Schmidt was taken with several other survivors to Havana and eventually allowed to enter the US via Miami. While in New York he established contact with musical theater writers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter and playwrights Robert Sherwood, William Saroyan, Maxwell Anderson, Clifford Odets, and Lillian Hellman.

   

7. 1941, Oct. 4

   Married Ingrid Hallner Dickson becoming stepfather to Douglas and Helen Dickson

8. 1942?

   Established Lars Schmidt Teaterforlaget (a publishing company holding the Swedish/Scandinavian rights to United States plays) 

9. 1942, July 6

   Jan Schmidt born (died 1950)

   

10. 1942

    Arsenic and Old Lace European premier in Gothenburg, Sweden

11. 1945

    Conducted 3-month play-buying trip to NYC returning with the Swedish rights to 100 plays including Life with Father, The Glass Menagerie, A Bell for Adano, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Time of Our Life, and The Little Foxes. First meets Peter Ustinov and Christopher Fry on the London leg of the trip.

    

12. 1946, Feb. 8

    European premier of Glass Menagerie in Stockholm, Sweden

13. 1947?

    Established Schmidt and Bratt advertising agency with Ernst Gustav Bratt

14. 1947

    Made first foray into producing by backing production of Peter Ustinov's Frenzy (based on Ingmar Bergman's film Hets) in London

    

15. 1947

    Negotiates subsidiary rights to all Rodgers and Hammerstein productions (ultimately some 50 titles)

16. 1947

    Oklahoma! European premier in Malmo, Sweden

17. 1948-1953

    Opened Teaterbaten in Gothenburg, Sweden, as a venue for revues. Some 10 different shows including starring noted revue performers including Tutta Rolf, Lasse Dahlquist, Gus and Holger, Thor Modeen, and Willy Peters were staged in Gothenburg between 1948 and 1953.

    

18. 1948-1950

    Oklahoma! and Carousel performed throughout Scandinavia

19. 1949

    Annie Get Your Gun European premier in Gothenburg

    

20. 1951

    Obtained Scandinavian rights to Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo; European premier in Gothenburg

    

21. 1951

    Kiss Me, Kate opened in Stockholm and Oslo

22. 1952, Sept.

    South Pacific opened in Stockholm

23. 1953

    Dial M for Murder (Sla Nollan Till Polisen) opened in Gothenburg

    

24. 1953

    Sold Gothenburg Teaterbaten

25. 1956?

    Purchased Dann Holmen, Sweden, property

    

26. 1956, Dec.-1965

    Produced first play in Paris, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, staged by Peter Brook; over the next nine years presented Diary of Anne Frank, 12 Angry Men, Britannicus, La Hobereaute, Orpheus Descending, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Barefoot in the Park, Becket, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on various Parisian stages.

    

27. 1957-1958

    Formed International Playwrights Theatre in London with Toby Rowland and Peter Hall; produced Camino Real, staged at the Phoenix Theatre, and Brouhaha, with Peter Sellers, at the Aldwych Theater

28. 1958

    Purchased La Grange aux Moines in Choisel, France

    

29. 1958, Dec. 21

    Married Ingrid Bergman (died 1982) at Caxton Hall, London, England becoming stepfather to Pia Lindstrom, Robertino Rossellini, Isabella Rossellini, and Isotta-Ingrid Rossellini

    

30. 1958

    Became co-producer, with Mme. Francoise Grammont, of L'Athenee Theatre in Paris

31. 1959

    My Fair Lady European premier in Oslo, Norway; opened in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland

    

32. 1959-1962

    My Fair Lady performed on 14 stages throughout Scandinavia, northern Europe, and Italy

33. 1962

    Produced Hedda Gabler with Ingrid Bergman at Theatre Montparnasse Gaston-Baty

34. 1962, Mar.

    West Side Story premiered in Copenhagen

35. 1962, Oct.

    Teenager Love premiered in Copenhagen

36. 1965-1985

    Purchased Theatre Montparnasse in partnership with Swedish theater and film company Sandrews and Jérôme Hullot as artistic director. Some 100 productions (including Luv, The Four Seasons, The Price, Jeux de Massacre, Private Lives, Same Time Next Year, and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) are mounted under this partnership.

    

37. 1966?

    Sandrews withdrew from Theatre Montparnasse. 

38. 1971

    Jesus Christ Superstar premiered in Copenhagen

39. 1972

    Produced Honni soit qui mal y pense (The Ruling Class) at the Theatre de Paris in Paris

40. 1975

    Sold Nordiska Teaterförlaget AB (successor to Lars Schmidt Teaterförlaget) to Hanne and Lone Wilhelm Hansen

41. 1977

    Kristian Schmidt born to companion Kristina Belfrage

    

42. 1980

    Opened Petit Montparnasse as a venue for smaller and experimental productions

43. 1980

    Appointed Chevalier of French Legion of Honor

    

44. 1983

    Produced K2 at Theatre de la Porte Saint Martin in Paris

    

45. 1985

    Turned ownership of Theatre Montparnasse over to Miriam Colombi; resumed career as an independent producer and director

46. 1986

    Produced 'Night Mother at Theatre Actuel in Paris

47. 1988-1989

    Produced La Metamorphose with Roman Polanski at Theatre Gymnase-Marie Bell in Paris and Metamorphosis with Mikhail Baryshnikov at Barrymore Theater in New York City

    

48. 1990

    Directed Love Letters by AR Gurney at Petit Marigny in Paris

49. 1990 ?

    Became life companion of Yanne Norup

    

50. 1994

    Member of producing team of New York City production of Broken Glass by Arthur Miller

51. 1995

    Published Mitt Livs Teater

52. 1995

    Directed Sylvia by AR Gurney at Bouffes Parisians

53. 1996

    Produced Master Class by Terrance McNally at Theatre de la Porte Saint Martin in Paris; this is Schmidt's last theater production

54. 1997

    Appointed Officer of French Legion of Honor

    

55. 2005

    Appointed Commander of French Legion of Honor

56. 2009, Oct. 18

    Died, Fjällbacka, Sweden