He was born in
Kristiania as a son of barrister and right-wing political figure
Johan Bernhard Hjort (1895–1969) and Anna Cathrine Holst (1895–1992). His grandfathers were fisheries director
Johan Hjort and professor of medicine
Peter Fredrik Holst. He was a brother of
Johan Hjort and
Wanda Hjort Heger. In 1948 he married Tone Seip (1926–2001), a daughter of academic
Didrik Arup Seip. He spent the years 1998 to 2001 nursing his wife, who had sustained critical brain damage during an operation. ==Career==