[1] In 1955 he switched to KOTA (Kolding og Omegns Teateramatører), an amateur society that staged outdoor summer performances in the local castle Koldinghus.
[1] In 1957 KOTA elected to perform William Shakespeare´s En skærsommernatsdrøm (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and engaged actor Søren Weiss from the Royal Danish Theatre to direct.
[3] On 5 May 1958 Erik Paaske performed roles from Vor ære og magt by Nordahl Grieg and Erasmus Montanus by Ludvig Holberg in front of theatre principal Alf Henriques, directors Henning Rohde and Henning Brøndsted, and actors / teachers Poul Reumert, Else Højgaard, Martin Hansen and John Price.
[11] Ten years later a heated discussion erupted as to the future scope of this genre; was it time to cede the stage to modern playwrights or should the TV theatre remain easily accessible to the audience by sticking to traditional and tried-and-tested content?
[14] Based on an 1829 short story by clergyman, author and poet Steen Steensen Blicher, this production was deeply ingrained in a 19th century rural and religious sensibility both in terms of language and narrative.
(tabloid): "After six years of bit parts at the Royal Danish Theatre, Erik Paaske jump into the TV role with a success that made the viewers identify him with the senior constable - and for the first time the reviewers were completely on his side.
As a young amateur performer Erik Paaske demonstrated a talent for singing and in the summer of 1958 he appeared in a semi-professional capacity in the local Kolding variety theatre Sans Souci.
"[6] In 1965 Erik Paaske met "assistent i Centralarbejdsanvisningskontoret" ("clerk at the central labour exchange") Margit Jensen (20 September 1937 - 17 May 2016) at a private party and they started cohabiting in 1966.
[25] In December 1991 Paaske was rushed from theatre rehearsals to the operating table and forced to give up his leading role in Jens Christian Hostrup´s En Spurv i Tranedans (A Sparrow in a Dance of Cranes), not returning to the production.
[27] On 17 June 1992 the main national Danish broadsheets and tabloid newspapers all reported as front page news that Erik Paaske had died at the age of 58.
It was revealed by the family that he had fought the disease since April 1991, at the time forced to leave his leading role as Tevye in the production of Fiddler on the Roof at Nørrebros Theater.
...with a warm connection to the folksy that not only made him popular, but also loved.” ... “At his height in the late seventies and throughout the eighties [Erik Paaske] became one of our greatest actors ever.
"[32] Songs from Erik Paaske´s recordings are still being played on the Danish public service radio DR Radio, with the top titles "Sådan en aften sku' man være 20 år," "Nu har vi altså jul igen" and "Hvis jeg var en rig mand" (original "If I Were a Rich Man (song)" from the musical Fiddler on the Roof) played 78, 56 and 44 times since 2010 (as of November 2024).