According to a 2004 book by Anthony Beevor, ("The Mystery of Olga Chekhova"), she worked for Soviet intelligence during World War II, passing information about Nazi Germany to a Soviet contact during her visits home to Sweden.
After the war she never seemed to understand why people couldn't accept that she was a non-political figure who only wanted to make happy musicals and happened to do so in Nazi Germany.
At a party she met the Nazi minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, who asked her ironically: "Zarah... Isn't this a Jewish name?" "Oh, maybe" the actress told "but what about Josef?" "Hmmm... yes, yes, a good answer" Goebbels replied.
Before and during World War II, she was on the cover of about 80 magazines in Germany due to her enormous popularity.
Born at 10:16 PM CET.
Her first husband -from 1926 to 1929- was the actor Nils Leander. Their children Boel, a girl, and Göran, a boy, were born in 1927 and 1929. After being married to journalist Vidar Forsell from 1932 to 1943, she finally tied the knot with pianist Arne Hülphers in 1949, with whom she worked for over 25 years. He died in 1978.
Her most popular song was "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh'n" (lit. for I know there will be a wonder).
In 1939, using the proceeds of her record earnings, she bought a big mansion, Lönö, at the Swedish East coast close to Norrköping.
Received a Mercedes-Benz 500K from Adolf Hitler in 1935. She was filmed in that car by Victor Tourjansky.
Retired from acting in 1979.
Shocked her friends in the mostly liberal (anti-Nazi) Swedish theatre community, by choosing pass on offers from England and the U.S.A. to instead make films in Germany.
Sister of Gustaf Hedberg.
Sometimes called "the Nazi Garbo" and, like Garbo, she was a Swede whose greatest film successes came while working in a foreign language (German)