Aarre Karén

Aarre Karén

Birth : 1932-11-29, Tokyo, Japan

Death : 2021-08-08

History

Aarre Karén was a Finnish actor who performed in theater, films and television. Karén played his first major film role in The Gauntlet (1971), directed by Maunu Kurkvaara. Karén's film career spanned 47 years, during which he appeared in many of Spede Pasanen's Uuno Turhapuro films. He also played voice roles in several popular animated films and series dubbed into Finnish, such as Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh, Joker in Batman and Abraham Simpson in The Simpsons movie. Karén's last film role was in 21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage (2013), directed by Johanna Vuoksenmaa. Actress Linnea Skog is Karén's granddaughter.

Profile

Aarre Karén

Movies

21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage
Hearing Impaired Man
The film follows Sanna, who sets out to document the countless ways there are to ruin a marriage for her doctoral thesis.
Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble
Topias (voice)
Set right before Christmas, Niko the reindeer must deal with his mom getting re-married and his being tasked with looking after his little stepbrother.
Eetu ja Konna
Sekalaisia
The Flight Before Christmas
Isoisä (voice)
A reindeer boy named Niko dreams about flying like his father, whom he has never met. Despite constant mocking from others, he sneaks out of his home valley to take flying lessons from Julius, a flying squirrel.
Thomas
Kalle
Thomas, a former doctor, a widower, lives alone in a basement apartment in Helsinki. His routine becomes even more limited when his misanthropic brother dies, reducing Thomas' human contact to practically nil. As with many seniors, he's basically invisible to passersby, though Thomas in particular avoids engaging with those around him. When he runs into his estranged daughter Marie, he tries to create a bridge.
Quest for a Heart
Lakeija (voice)
When the most mischievous resident of Rolli Village befriends a beautiful elf girl, the hopelessly mismatched pair embarks on a magical adventure to save the Forest of Elves by traveling to the Land of Winter and recovering the mythical magical heart in this animated tale of wonder for the entire family.
The Year of the Wolf
Erik
Sari is a young, beautiful and intelligent girl who is busy studying at university,but she suffers from epilepsy and has to face death on a daily basis. Mikko is hersomewhat older university teacher, who is tired of life, and who one day decides toabandon his wife, children and idea of a perfect life. Both characters have been tooscared to live their lives to the brim for too long. But they meet, and in spite oftheir prejudices and reserved natures, they manage to create a dramatic and movingmodern romance which confronts numerous taboos. While the imagery explores theboundary between life and death in a most poetic way, the odd couple's romance istold with both bite and humour. Society - be it in the shape of angry ex-wives,overprotective parents, conservative aunts or embittered colleagues - is doing whatit can to put a spanner in the works."
Lights in the Dusk
Night Shelter Manager
Koistinen is a sad sack, a man without affect or friends. He's a night-watchman in Helsinki with ideas of starting his own business, but nothing to go with those intentions. He sometimes talks a bit with a woman who runs a snack trailer near his work. Out of the blue, a young sophisticated blonde woman attaches herself to Koistinen. He thinks of her as his girlfriend, he takes her on her rounds.
Uuno Turhapuro – This Is My Life
Uuno disguises as an old man and infiltrates a nursing home for rich old people, where his father-in-law also lives. The ever-hungry Uuno is seduced by the table groaning with food, but as it happens, he never manages to be there at dinnertime. Meanwhile Sörsselssön enters Uuno for a TV competition named This Is My Life, where contestants tell about their life as viewers vote them either to continue or out of the show. The nursing home elderly watch on TV as Uuno tells the show's host his life story.
Dogs Have No Hell
Goldsmith
A short film by Aki Kaurismäki. It was shot in 2001 as a test before filming The Man Without a Past, featuring much of the same cast. Markku Peltola plays a man who leaves his company and boards a train to Moscow with the woman he is going to marry.
The Man Without a Past
Doctor
A man arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track.
Santa Claus and the Magic Drum
Lapinnoita (voice)
A few days before Christmas Eve the last sack of letters arrives to Santa. At the bottom is a letter that is a bit older than the others, it's a drawing. While the curious Santa tries to figure out what the drawing looks like, strange things begin to happen.
Yöjuna
Helimäki, tutkijalautakunnan puheenjohtaja
The Night Train (Yöjuna) is a 1996 Finnish thriller movie directed by Arto Lehkamo.
Drifting Clouds
Bank Manager
Tram driver Lauri loses his job. Shortly later, the restaurant where his wife Ilona works as a headwaitress is closed. Too proud, to receive money from the social welfare system, they hardly try to find new jobs. But they are completely unlucky and clumsy, one disaster is followed by the next. Finally, their courage, confidence, and their unbreakable love triumph over the fate.
Uuno Turhapuron veli
Tarmon anopin yhtiön johtokunnan jäsen
Uuno Turhapuro's brother returns home from Sweden at the same time that Uuno has been seemingly kidnapped.
Anita
CI Penttilä
Crime caper involving two con artists who team up to pull off a super scam. Complications arise when the female member of the team falls in love with the male partner, who is mainly interested in the money.
Takatöölö Story
Seniorilääkäri
A reporter starts investigating a murder while making a documentary about a 60's youth gang.
Nitro League
An jolly gang of elderly people plan to rob a bank.
Uuno Turhapuron poika
Gangsters try to steal Uuno Turhapuro's father-in-law's money by infiltrating into the family through Uuno, by pretending he has a long-lost son.
Uuno Turhapuro Suomen Tasavallan Herra Presidentti
Lääkäri
Uuno Turhapuro becomes the President of Finland. Streets are named after him and honorary companies are arranged for him. He also tries to turn Finland into a kingdom.
Vääpeli Körmy ja marsalkan sauva
Doctor
The colonel's wife's tin pints need to be cleaned up, and Sergeant First Class Körmy tasks two privates to do so.
Cha Cha Cha
Bank Manager
A lawyer pays a visit to Matti Ojanperä (Matti Pellonpää), a bum living under a bridge in the Helsinki harbour, to inform him that he is about to inherit an American aunt of his. The sum 1,000,000 Fmk would be his, if only he meets the qualifications set by his aunt. He must show that he is capable of 'living properly' and possessing a 'respectable occupation and a family he can support'. Otherwise the money would go to a foundation the chairman of which the lawyer himself happens to be!
Goodbye, Mr. President
Asko Mertanen is a waiter who is very interested in shooting. He gets fed up how the things are run in Finland, so he thinks that the best way to change them is to shoot the Finnish president.
Maailman paras
pankinjohtaja
The Castle
Momus
Based on Franz Kafka's famous novel, director Jaakko Pakkasvirta created this interpretation of the woebegone Josef K., who is trapped in an ever-increasing labyrinth of double talk and bureaucratic nonsense in his efforts to reach the castle. As Josef seeks to make an appointment to see the ruler Herr Klamm inside his inaccessible abode, he becomes enmeshed in abuse from lowly villagers and bureaucrats alike. His endless false starts toward the castle's enigmatic interior are partly offset by a few sexual encounters but nothing alleviates his role as a victim of forces beyond his control.
Numbskull Emptybrook Back in the Country
Konduktööri
Uuno's father-in-law councillor Tuura moves to the country with his wife and daughter Elisabeth. Uuno joins them when it turns out Tuura's mansion is on the construction site of a new road. Tuura however is set on preventing this.
Numbskull Emptybrook in the Army
Uuno is forced to complete his mandatory military service when it is revealed that he only spent one day in the army in his youth. As is typical of the Turhapuro series his family and friends become closely tied in with these events. His friends Härski Hartikainen and Sörsselssön return to the army for a refresher course and by chance Uuno's father-in-law, Councillor Tuura is made the Finnish Defence Minister. In one of the most memorable scenes, Uuno's wife, Elisabeth, dresses as Uuno and substitutes him for a day as Uuno has an apparently urgent meeting (at a restaurant) and while becoming lost in the woods with a malfunctioning radio, Tuura accidentally declares war on Sweden.
Apinan vuosi
Kaarle Autio, Ile's father
A young student seeks direction in his life to counterbalance the studies through female adventures.
Menestyksen maku
Tuuli's Father
The Howling Miller
Kamreeri
The main character is a miller, who sometimes acts strangely but is otherwise a goodhearted hardworking honest man. He sometimes keeps the villagers up all night by howling. Finally the villagers decide that the miller has to be committed into a mental hospital, where the hero does not have to spend too much time until he escapes. The miller takes to the woods near his home but there he is constantly harassed by the chief of the police with his posse.
The Worthless
1# Poolshark
Manne, Harri, and Ville Alfa are rootless twenty-somethings in search of purpose for their banal lives. After Manne steals a priceless painting from a group of petty criminals, Manne and Harri flee from the gangsters across Finland, while Ville goes to Paris. On the road they meet Veera, an old girlfriend of Harri's, and try to avoid the gangsters in pursuit.
Uuno Turhapuro menettää muistinsa
Uuno Turhapuro hits his head and loses his memory. Meanwhile, his friend Härski Hartikainen founds a new peace movement with unorthodox methods.
Sign of the Beast
Jalkaväen kapteeni
Set during the Second World War in the Finnish war zone.
Natalia
Väinö Volontinen
The Gauntlet
After a young girl is found murdered in Kumpula, Helsinki, the police arrest Ossi Virtanen as a suspect. He had been drinking for days and got into a fight with a local youth gang. The police think that Ossi had gone after the gang for revenge and then killed the girl by mistake. Though Ossi maintains his innocence, and the evidence against him is insufficient, deputy chief Ranta has decieded he is guilty.