Dirch Passer

Dirch Hartvig Passer was born on May 18, 1926, on Østerbro, Copenhagen, to Ragnhild Fich and Capt. Vilhelm Passer (seaman). He never did well in school, being the class clown, which had a negative effect on his grades. He did especially badly in mathematics, which came to follow him the rest of his life. When Passer left school he wanted to become an actor, but his father insisted that he should become a seaman like himself. In 1944 he attended maritime school. Life at sea, however, did not go well - he was seasick all the time. After his failure as a seaman he had all kinds of small jobs. In 1946 he made his stage debut with "Six Comrades [seks kammerater]" in "Riddersalen". In the same year he was accepted to theatre school: De Frederiksbergske Teatres elevskole. After he had completed this education in 1948 he had many small parts in different plays all around Denmark's theatres. He made his film debut in 1947 as an extra in the Danish movie Lucky Journey (1947) and teamed up with