Trivia

Ove Sprogøe will get the road to the (Vridsløselille Statsfængsel) Vridsløselille State prison, where he ends up in most of the Olsen Banden movies, named after his character, (Egon Olsen Vej) Egon Olsen Road. The Albertslund city council has approved the name of the owned private road (though the road is private, its owned by the Danish state.). The new sign is expected to be up before Christmas 2004.

The idea for the name change came from two inmates that through the Danish newspaper Ekstra bladet, suggested it.

He never owned a TV set, mainly because he was afraid he would end up doing nothing else than watching TV.

On 24. of October 2005, the city of Odense, Denmark (Ove Sprogøes birth town) named a city square in his honor.

Shortly after his death in September of 2004, Nordisk Film - the production company behind all the Olsen-banden movies - established the Ove Sprogøe Scholarship Foundation. The foundation will pay scholarships to young and promising actors, actresses and directors.

He and his wife owned and lived in the private house closest to the runways at Copenhagen Airport (CPH). He loved his house in Tømmerup, and he keept on living there even as the airport expanded closer and closer to his house.

Father of Henning Sprogøe

His character Egon Olsen, gang leader in the "Olsen Banden" films, is legendary as are the other two gang member characters: Benny (played by Morten Grunwald) and Kjeld (played by Poul Bundgaard), not to mention Kjeld's wife, the obnoxious Yvonne (played by Kirsten Walther). Egon Olsen's frequent outbursts at the other two gang members (always using the same obscenities), his bowler hat, his striped suit, his cigar and the fact that he is the one who winds up in prison in 12 of the 14 movies, has made him an exceptionally popular actor in Denmark.

Once said himself that he has no clue how many movies he has made. The actual number is more than 175, making him (arguably) the most frequently used actor in Danish film history.

Despite popular belief Ove did watch his own movies. He participated in all the Olsen Gang premieres, and often went to the cinema to see how the audience reacted to his movies. But it is true that he didn't really like watching himself in movies.

The voice of Asterix in the Danish versions of the French animated feature.

Danish voice of the Sultan in Disney's 'Aladdin'.