Sæbjørn Buttedahl

Sæbjørn Buttedahl was a Norwegian stage and film actor who later found prominence as a sculptor.

Nils Sæbjørn Buttedahl was born in Lier, Norway and began his career as a stage actor in 1896 at the age of twenty. From 1907 to 1924 he was engaged at the Centralteatret in Oslo. He appeared in a number of stage plays by Henrik Ibsen, and appeared onstage with such eminent Norwegian actors of the era as Agnes Mowinckel and Martin Linge.

Buttedahl appeared in three feature-length silent films during his career as an actor. Two of these films, 1926's Simen Mustrøens besynderlige opplevelser and 1927's Den glade enke i Trangvik were directed by Harry Ivarson. His final film role was in the 1927 romantic drama Fjeldeventyret, directed by his son-in-law Leif Sinding.

During his time as an actor, Buttedahl also began a career as a sculptor, mainly as a sculptor of busts and almost exclusively sculpted notable theater personalities. He debuted his work at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo in 1912. Notable works in the public collection include:

Sæbjørn Buttedahl married Danish stage actress Clare Petrea Margrethe "Maggie" Benelli (1870–1933). They had one daughter, Ellen (Buttedahl) Sinding (1899–1980), who would marry film director Leif Sinding and become a film actress and dancer.

In 1926, Buttedahl immigrated to the United States and settled in San Diego, California where he died in 1960.