| Nils Olaf Chrisander | |
| Birth Date: | 14 February 1884 |
| Birth Place: | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Birthname: | Waldemar Olaf Chrisander |
| Death Place: | Skurup, Sweden |
| Occupation: | Film director, Actor |
| Yearsactive: | 1914–1927 |
Nils Olaf Chrisander (born Waldemar Olaf Chrisander, 14 February 1884 – 5 June 1947) was a Swedish actor and film director in the early part of the twentieth century.
Chrisander's first screen appearances as an actor were in German and Swedish silent films in the mid-1910s. His first motion picture role was in the 1915 Carl Schönfeld-directed German silent film drama Um ein Weib.
As an actor, Chrisander is possibly best recalled for starring as "Erik the Phantom" in the now lost 1916 Ernst Matray-directed German adaptation Das Phantom der Oper, based on Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera opposite Norwegian actress Aud Egede-Nissen.[1] Matray's version is the first film adaptation of Leroux's 1909–1910 serialized novel.[2] In 1917, he appeared opposite the popular Polish film actress Pola Negri in her first role in a German production, Nicht lange täuschte mich das Glück. In 1919, he co-directed the German silent film Alraune und der Golem with actor and director Paul Wegener.
After performing in a film serial for director Karl Gerhardt opposite actress Lil Dagover from 1920 to 1921, Chrisander began his career in Germany as a director. In total, he directed three films in Germany, before relocating to the United States where he directed two dramatic films: 1927's Fighting Love, starring Jetta Goudal, Victor Varconi and Henry B. Walthall for Cecil B. DeMille Pictures,[3] and that same year, The Heart Thief, starring Joseph Schildkraut and Lya De Putti.[4] By 1930, he was living at S. Gramercy Place in Los Angeles, California.[5] He died in 1947 in Skurup, Sweden.