Arne Weise - one of the most popular TV profiles

Arne Weise's career in radio and television spanned over 50 years. He was a program host for 25 years at SVT on Christmas Eve and worked, among other things, as program manager for the SVT programs "One with nature" and "Memories television".

Weise was born in Malmö in 1930. He began his journalistic career as a hall manager at Sveriges Radio (then Radio Service) in 1952.

For almost a decade on the radio, he participated in several popular radio programs.

Among other things, Weise interviewed movie star Audrey Hepburn in 1958 in the program "Italy's Hollywood" and was one of the creators and program directors of "Klubb Fiskartorpet" - Sweden's first so-called infotainment program that collected many of the young stars of the time in Sweden.

In 1963 he started working on Sweden's Television and got his big public break with the program series "Young in Italy".

It was followed up by two more series focusing on young people's living situation in other countries - this time from Israel and the Middle East. Several of the elements were recorded during the turbulent period before and after the so-called six-day war between Israel and the surrounding Arab states in June 1967.

Back in Sweden during the 1970s, Weise was elected to lead the children and youth group on TV1 and eventually succeeded the TV icon Lennart Hyland as the program leader on the quiz program "21".

In 1972 he debuted as a Christmas host in SVT. An assignment he held for 30 years with the exception of the years 1978-1979 and 1988-1990. In total, he was a Christmas host for 25 years and lit the last light in the TV box in 2002.

“Why am I a Christmas host on TV? From the beginning it was something that others wanted to avoid. But for over two decades it has become a dear tradition. Even for me! The candle should be lit just before Kalle Duck at three! It has wanted between five and three million as long as we have been on, "Weise wrote in the autobiography" I Blickpunkten "from 1995.

"That lighting event eventually became a tradition and very important for many people in Sweden and it was the same every Christmas," he said in an interview with SVT News 2011.

He cemented the role of popular program leader with 13 seasons of the nature program "One with nature" which was broadcast in SVT between 1983-1996.

Weise had read speaker texts to Jaques Cousteau's popular underwater films during the mid-1970s, but later revealed that he was not very knowledgeable about nature when he took on the director's assignment. Despite this, "One with Nature" was a great success and Weise's characteristic voice became too synonymous with TV images from wildlife and nature areas around the world.

His last major program manager job was Memories Television. A program series that replicated gold grains from SVT's archive. The last episode aired in 2012.

Weise was awarded the Crystal Honorary Award 2013.

He was married three times and leaves behind five children. Among them is son Andreas Weise, who became known through the TV4 program Idol.