Born Grethe Rüzt-Nissen in
Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, Nissen was originally a dancer. While still a student at the company's school in Copenhagen, she danced with the
Royal Danish Ballet, debuted as a solo ballerina on the
National Theatre in 1922. She toured in Norway and appeared in several Danish films. Nissen made her Broadway debut as a ballerina in 1924. She had studied ballet with
Michel Fokine. In early 1924, she came as a member of a Danish ballet troupe to New York, where she was soon hired to do a larger dance number for
George S. Kaufman in the musical
Beggar on Horseback. She was discovered by film producer
Jesse L. Lasky of
Paramount Pictures, and would appear in more than twenty films. She appeared in
The Wanderer (1925, director
Raoul Walsh). Among her other films were
Lost: A Wife,
The King on Main Street,
The Love Thief,
Ambassador Bill,
The Lucky Lady, and
Honours Easy. Nissen was cast as Helen, the female lead in ''
Hell's Angels'', originally conceived as a
silent film. Principal photography began on 31 October 1927, with an interior shot at the Metropolitan Studio in
Hollywood. Midway through production, the advent of sound in motion pictures came with the arrival of
The Jazz Singer. Director
Howard Hughes incorporated the new technology into the half-finished film, but Nissen became a casualty of the new sound age, due to her pronounced Norwegian accent. He paid her for her work and cooperation, and replaced her, because her accent would make her role as a British aristocrat ludicrous. In 1932, she played in
The Silent Witness with
Weldon Heyburn, who became her first husband. They married on 30 March 1932, in Tijuana, Mexico. On 19 October 1935, Nissen went to court to have the marriage annulled, "charging their marriage ... was illegal and violated legal witness and residence requirements." The annulment was granted on 30 April 1936. In 1933, she moved to England. Her film career ended in the mid-1930s after she had appeared in a few British films. In 1937, she retired from movie acting altogether. ==Critical acclaim==