Max von Sydow
Encyclopedia
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more. He has performed in films filmed in many languages, including Swedish
, Norwegian
, English, Italian
, German, Danish
, French and Spanish.
Some of his most memorable film roles include knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman
's The Seventh Seal
(the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic shot of his career in the scene where he plays chess with Death), Jesus in George Stevens
's The Greatest Story Ever Told
, Father Merrin in Friedkin
's The Exorcist
, Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor
, Ming the Merciless
in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon
, Esbern in the 2011 video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
, Dr. Liet-Kynes
in David Lynch
's 1984 film version of Frank Herbert
's novel Dune
, and as Brewmeister Smith in the 1983 film Strange Brew
.
, Skåne
, Sweden. His father, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, was an ethnologist and professor of Irish, Scandinavia
n and comparative folklore at the University of Lund
. His mother, Baroness Greta (née Rappe), was a school teacher. Von Sydow was brought up as a Lutheran and later became an agnostic.
He attended the Cathedral School of Lund, and learned German and English starting at the age of nine. At school, he and some friends founded an amateur theatre company. He completed National Service
before studying at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
("Dramaten") in Stockholm, where he trained between 1948 and 1951 with the likes of Lars Ekborg
, Margaretha Krook
and Ingrid Thulin
. During his time at Dramaten, he made his screen debut in Alf Sjöberg's films Only a Mother
(Bara en mor, 1949), and Miss Julie
(Fröken Julie, 1951), a screen version of Swedish playwright August Strindberg
's well known play.
, where he met his mentor
, Ingmar Bergman
. His first work with Bergman occurred on stage at the Malmö Municipal Theatre. Von Sydow later would work with Bergman on films such as The Seventh Seal
(Det sjunde inseglet, 1957), Wild Strawberries
(Smultronstället, 1957) and The Virgin Spring
(Jungfrukällan, 1960). In The Seventh Seal
, von Sydow is the knight who plays a chess
game with Death to buy time for his companions. The scene and the film were both international breakthroughs for actor and director alike. It was in these films where von Sydow honed and perfected his craft.
Von Sydow came to dominate the screen as he did the stage, becoming an idol of the international arthouse film scene. Critical recognition came as early as 1954 when he was awarded the Royal Foundation Culture Award. He worked profusely on both stage and screen while in Scandinavia
, resisting the increasing calls from the United States to go to Hollywood.
After being seen in Bergman's Academy Award
–winning films and having been first choice for the title role of Dr. No
, von Sydow finally went to America after agreeing to star in the film which led to much greater recognition, in the role of Jesus in George Stevens
' all-star epic The Greatest Story Ever Told
(1965). Because his talents were soon in demand in other American productions, von Sydow and his family eventually moved to Los Angeles.
From 1965, von Sydow became a regular on the American screen while maintaining a presence in his native Sweden. In 1969 he appeared in John Huston
's The Kremlin Letter
. Though perhaps typecast as a villain, he was rewarded in the United States with two Golden Globe nominations, for Hawaii
in 1966 and The Exorcist
in 1973. In the mid-1970s, von Sydow moved to Rome and appeared in a number of Italian films
, becoming friendly with another screen legend, Marcello Mastroianni
. In the U.S., he played a memorably professional Alsatian
assassin in Three Days of the Condor
(1975), a role which won him the KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, von Sydow appeared in such films as Flash Gordon
(1980), Strange Brew
(1983), David Lynch
's Dune
(1984), and Woody Allen
's Hannah and Her Sisters
(1986). In 1985, he was a member of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival
. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the Danish film Pelle the Conqueror
(1987), which itself won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Von Sydow has since won the Australian Film Institute
's Best Actor Award for his title role in Father
(1989), the Guldbagge Best Director Award
for his only directorial foray, Katinka
(Ved vejen, 1988), based on a novel by Herman Bang
, and the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival
for The Silent Touch (Dotknięcie ręki, 1993). He received international acclaim for his performance as Nobel Prize
–winning novelist Knut Hamsun
in Jan Troell's biopic Hamsun
. He received his third Swedish Guldbagge and his second Danish Bodil
for his depiction of a character often described as his King Lear
. In 1996, he starred in Liv Ullmann
's Private Confessions (Enskilda samtal). Back in Hollywood, he appeared in What Dreams May Come
.
He was acclaimed for his role as an elderly lawyer in Scott Hicks
' Snow Falling on Cedars
. In 2002, von Sydow had one of his largest commercial successes, co-starring with Tom Cruise
in Steven Spielberg
's science fiction thriller Minority Report
. In 2003, he played mentor character Eyvind in the European TV adaptation of the Ring of the Nibelung
saga. The show set ratings records and was released in the USA as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King
. In 2007, von Sydow starred in the box-office hit Rush Hour 3
. He followed that with Julian Schnabel
's award-winning foreign film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
, based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby
.
Recently, von Sydow appeared in Showtime's drama series The Tudors
, where he portrayed Cardinal Otto Truchsess Von Waldburg
, a German-born clergyman who tries to organize the defeat of King Henry VIII
. He also appeared in Martin Scorsese
's 2010 film adaptation of Shutter Island and Ridley Scott
's 2010 adaption of Robin Hood
, playing Robin's blind stepfather, Sir Walter Loxley.
Von Sydow voices the character of Esbern in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
, which was released on November 11, 2011. He narrates the initial teaser trailer for the game.
, playing his son at different ages. He divorced Olin 26 February 1979.
Von Sydow then married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet on 30 April 1997 in Provence
; they have two sons, Cedric (b. 1970) and Yvan (b. 1971). He currently lives with his wife in Paris, where he enjoys reading, listening to music and gardening. He received French citizenship in 2002 and now holds dual Swedish/French citizenship.
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, English, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, German, Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, French and Spanish.
Some of his most memorable film roles include knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
's The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
(the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic shot of his career in the scene where he plays chess with Death), Jesus in George Stevens
George Stevens
George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...
's The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...
, Father Merrin in Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
's The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
, Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor
Three Days of the Condor
Three Days of the Condor is a 1975 American action thriller film produced by Stanley Schneider and directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay, by Lorenzo Semple Jr...
, Ming the Merciless
Ming the Merciless
Ming the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, TV shows and film adaptation.- First appearance :...
in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon (film)
Flash Gordon is a 1980 British/American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian...
, Esbern in the 2011 video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion...
, Dr. Liet-Kynes
Liet-Kynes
Liet-Kynes is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is primarily featured in the 1965 novel Dune, but also appears in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson...
in David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's 1984 film version of Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
's novel Dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
, and as Brewmeister Smith in the 1983 film Strange Brew
Strange Brew
The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew is a 1983 Canadian comedy film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who also served as co-directors. Max von Sydow co-stars....
.
Early life
Von Sydow was born Carl Adolf von Sydow to a wealthy family in LundLund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
, Skåne
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
, Sweden. His father, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, was an ethnologist and professor of Irish, Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n and comparative folklore at the University of Lund
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...
. His mother, Baroness Greta (née Rappe), was a school teacher. Von Sydow was brought up as a Lutheran and later became an agnostic.
He attended the Cathedral School of Lund, and learned German and English starting at the age of nine. At school, he and some friends founded an amateur theatre company. He completed National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
before studying at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
("Dramaten") in Stockholm, where he trained between 1948 and 1951 with the likes of Lars Ekborg
Lars Ekborg
Lars Åke Rupert Ekborg, born 6 June 1926 in Uppsala, died 7 October 1969, was a Swedish actor.Ekborg was the father of actors Dan and Anders Ekborg...
, Margaretha Krook
Margaretha Krook
Margaretha Krook was a Swedish stage and film actress. She won the Eugene O'Neill Award in 1974. In 1976, she won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actress for the film Release the Prisoners to Spring.-Selected Filmography:...
and Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Lilian Thulin was a Swedish film actress.-Biography:Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna and Adam Thulin, a fisherman...
. During his time at Dramaten, he made his screen debut in Alf Sjöberg's films Only a Mother
Only a Mother
- Cast :*Eva Dahlbeck as Maria, aka Rya-Rya*Ragnar Falck as Henrik, Rya-Rya's husband*Ulf Palme as Hammar*Hugo Björne as Eniel*Åke Fridell as Inspector*Mona Geijer-Falkner as Emili*Max von Sydow as Nils*Margaretha Krook as Berta*Mimi Pollak as Erika Rost...
(Bara en mor, 1949), and Miss Julie
Miss Julie
Miss Julie is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg dealing with class, love, lust, the battle of the sexes, and the interaction among them...
(Fröken Julie, 1951), a screen version of Swedish playwright August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
's well known play.
Career
In 1955 he moved to MalmöMalmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, where he met his mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
, Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
. His first work with Bergman occurred on stage at the Malmö Municipal Theatre. Von Sydow later would work with Bergman on films such as The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
(Det sjunde inseglet, 1957), Wild Strawberries
Wild Strawberries (film)
Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, about an old man recalling his past. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means "the wild strawberry patch", but idiomatically means an underrated gem of a place...
(Smultronstället, 1957) and The Virgin Spring
The Virgin Spring
The Virgin Spring is a 1960 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a revenge tale about a father's merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was adapted by screenwriter Ulla Isaksson from a 13th century Swedish ballad, "Töres...
(Jungfrukällan, 1960). In The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal
The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play...
, von Sydow is the knight who plays a chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
game with Death to buy time for his companions. The scene and the film were both international breakthroughs for actor and director alike. It was in these films where von Sydow honed and perfected his craft.
Von Sydow came to dominate the screen as he did the stage, becoming an idol of the international arthouse film scene. Critical recognition came as early as 1954 when he was awarded the Royal Foundation Culture Award. He worked profusely on both stage and screen while in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, resisting the increasing calls from the United States to go to Hollywood.
After being seen in Bergman's Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
–winning films and having been first choice for the title role of Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
, von Sydow finally went to America after agreeing to star in the film which led to much greater recognition, in the role of Jesus in George Stevens
George Stevens
George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...
' all-star epic The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last...
(1965). Because his talents were soon in demand in other American productions, von Sydow and his family eventually moved to Los Angeles.
From 1965, von Sydow became a regular on the American screen while maintaining a presence in his native Sweden. In 1969 he appeared in John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
's The Kremlin Letter
The Kremlin Letter
The Kremlin Letter is an American noir film directed by John Huston, starring Richard Boone, Orson Welles, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Patrick O'Neal and George Sanders. It was released in February 1970 by 20th Century-Fox...
. Though perhaps typecast as a villain, he was rewarded in the United States with two Golden Globe nominations, for Hawaii
Hawaii (film)
Hawaii is a 1966 American film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, along with his new bride , becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands...
in 1966 and The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
in 1973. In the mid-1970s, von Sydow moved to Rome and appeared in a number of Italian films
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
, becoming friendly with another screen legend, Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...
. In the U.S., he played a memorably professional Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
assassin in Three Days of the Condor
Three Days of the Condor
Three Days of the Condor is a 1975 American action thriller film produced by Stanley Schneider and directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay, by Lorenzo Semple Jr...
(1975), a role which won him the KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award given by the Kansas City Film Critics Circle to honor the best achievements in acting.-1960s:-1970:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*...
. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, von Sydow appeared in such films as Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon (film)
Flash Gordon is a 1980 British/American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian...
(1980), Strange Brew
Strange Brew
The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew is a 1983 Canadian comedy film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who also served as co-directors. Max von Sydow co-stars....
(1983), David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's Dune
Dune (film)
Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco...
(1984), and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's Hannah and Her Sisters
Hannah and Her Sisters
Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begin and end with a family Thanksgiving dinner...
(1986). In 1985, he was a member of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival
35th Berlin International Film Festival
The 35th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 15 to February 26, 1985.-Jury:* Jean Marais * Max von Sydow* Alberto Sordi* Regimantas Adomaitis* Sheila Benson* Wolfgang Kohlhaase* Onat Kutlar* Luis Megino...
. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the Danish film Pelle the Conqueror
Pelle the Conqueror
Pelle the Conqueror is a 1987 Danish film by Bille August that tells the story of two Swedish immigrants to Denmark, a father and son, who try to build a new life for themselves...
(1987), which itself won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
's Best Actor Award for his title role in Father
Father (film)
Father is a 1990 film about a retired German immigrant living in Australia, Joe Muller , who is accused of being a former Nazi who committed war crimes in the Second World War by a strange woman called Iya Zetnick...
(1989), the Guldbagge Best Director Award
Guldbagge Award
The Guldbagge Award is an official Swedish film award awarded annually since 1964 by the Swedish Film Institute.-Etymology:Guldbagge is the Swedish name for Cetonia aurata, a beetle also known as rose chafer. The name of the award could also be interpreted as a play on the Swedish word skalbagge,...
for his only directorial foray, Katinka
Katinka (film)
Katinka is a 1988 Danish-Swedish drama film directed by Max von Sydow. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Tammi Øst - Katinka* Ole Ernst - Bai* Kurt Ravn - Wilhelm Huus* Erik Paaske - Linde...
(Ved vejen, 1988), based on a novel by Herman Bang
Herman Bang
Herman Joachim Bang was a Danish author, one of the men of the Modern Breakthrough.-Biography:Bang was born into a noble family of Asserballe, on the small Danish island of Als, the son of a South Jutlandic vicar...
, and the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
for The Silent Touch (Dotknięcie ręki, 1993). He received international acclaim for his performance as Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
–winning novelist Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun was a Norwegian author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. He was praised by King Haakon VII of Norway as Norway's soul....
in Jan Troell's biopic Hamsun
Hamsun (film)
Hamsun is a 1996 Danish-Swedish-Norwegian-German drama directed by Jan Troell, about the later life of the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun , who together with his wife Marie Hamsun , went from being national saints to national traitors after supporting Nazi Germany during their occupation of Norway...
. He received his third Swedish Guldbagge and his second Danish Bodil
Bodil Awards
The Bodil Awards are the major Danish film awards given by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics . The awards are presented annually at a ceremony in the Imperial Cinema in Copenhagen. Established in 1948, it is one of the oldest film awards in Europe...
for his depiction of a character often described as his King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
. In 1996, he starred in Liv Ullmann
Liv Ullmann
Liv Johanne Ullmann is a Norwegian actress and film director, as well as one of the "muses" of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman...
's Private Confessions (Enskilda samtal). Back in Hollywood, he appeared in What Dreams May Come
What Dreams May Come (film)
What Dreams May Come is a 1998 American supernatural drama film, starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet's To be, or not to...
.
He was acclaimed for his role as an elderly lawyer in Scott Hicks
Scott Hicks
Robert Scott Hicks is a film director from Australia. He is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, the Oscar-winning biopic of pianist David Helfgott. Hicks's work has been nominated for an Academy Award as well as winning an Emmy Award.-Personal life:Hicks was born in Uganda, the...
' Snow Falling on Cedars
Snow Falling on Cedars (film)
Snow Falling on Cedars is a film directed by Scott Hicks. It is based on David Guterson's novel of the same title. It was released in 1999 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.-Plot:...
. In 2002, von Sydow had one of his largest commercial successes, co-starring with Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
in Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's science fiction thriller Minority Report
Minority Report (film)
Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C...
. In 2003, he played mentor character Eyvind in the European TV adaptation of the Ring of the Nibelung
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
saga. The show set ratings records and was released in the USA as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King
Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King
Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King is a fantasy film and mini-series based on the Norse mythology story Völsungasaga and the German epic poem Nibelungenlied, which tells the mythological story of Siegfried the Dragon-Slayer...
. In 2007, von Sydow starred in the box-office hit Rush Hour 3
Rush Hour 3
Rush Hour 3 is a 2007 martial arts/action-comedy film, and the third installment in the Rush Hour film series, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, that began with the 1998 film Rush Hour and continued with the first sequel Rush Hour 2 in 2001. The film was officially announced on May 7, 2006,...
. He followed that with Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel is an American artist and filmmaker. In the 1980s, Schnabel received international media attention for his "plate paintings"—large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates....
's award-winning foreign film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a 2007 biographical drama film based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir of the same name. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The...
, based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Jean-Dominique Bauby
Jean-Dominique Bauby was a well-known French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE.On 8 December 1995 at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke. When he woke up twenty days later, he found he was entirely speechless; he could only blink his left eyelid...
.
Recently, von Sydow appeared in Showtime's drama series The Tudors
The Tudors
The Tudors is a Canadian produced historical fiction television series filmed in Ireland, created by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime...
, where he portrayed Cardinal Otto Truchsess Von Waldburg
Otto Truchsess von Waldburg
Otto Truchsess von Waldburg was Prince-Bishop of Augsburg from 1543 until his death and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.-Childhood and Education:...
, a German-born clergyman who tries to organize the defeat of King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. He also appeared in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's 2010 film adaptation of Shutter Island and Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
's 2010 adaption of Robin Hood
Robin Hood (2010 film)
Robin Hood is a 2010 British/American adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett...
, playing Robin's blind stepfather, Sir Walter Loxley.
Von Sydow voices the character of Esbern in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion...
, which was released on November 11, 2011. He narrates the initial teaser trailer for the game.
Personal life
On 1 August 1951, von Sydow married actress Christina Inga Britta Olin, (1926 - 1998), with whom he has two sons, Claes and Henrik. His children appeared with him in the film HawaiiHawaii (film)
Hawaii is a 1966 American film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, along with his new bride , becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands...
, playing his son at different ages. He divorced Olin 26 February 1979.
Von Sydow then married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet on 30 April 1997 in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
; they have two sons, Cedric (b. 1970) and Yvan (b. 1971). He currently lives with his wife in Paris, where he enjoys reading, listening to music and gardening. He received French citizenship in 2002 and now holds dual Swedish/French citizenship.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Only a Mother Only a Mother - Cast :*Eva Dahlbeck as Maria, aka Rya-Rya*Ragnar Falck as Henrik, Rya-Rya's husband*Ulf Palme as Hammar*Hugo Björne as Eniel*Åke Fridell as Inspector*Mona Geijer-Falkner as Emili*Max von Sydow as Nils*Margaretha Krook as Berta*Mimi Pollak as Erika Rost... |
Nils | |
| 1951 | Miss Julie Miss Julie Miss Julie is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg dealing with class, love, lust, the battle of the sexes, and the interaction among them... |
Hand | |
| 1953 | Ingen mans kvinna | Olaf | |
| 1956 | Rätten att älska | Bergman | |
| 1957 | Herr Sleeman kommer Mr. Sleeman Is Coming Mr. Sleeman Is Coming is a 1917 one-act play by the Swedish author Hjalmar Bergman. The main character is an orphaned young woman who is about to be married off to an unappealing but rich old man, Mr. Sleeman, at the instigation of her aunts who have taken charge of her... |
The Hunter | (TV) |
| The Seventh Seal The Seventh Seal The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set during the Black Death, it tells of the journey of a medieval knight and a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death , who has come to take his life. Bergman developed the film from his own play... |
Antonius Block | ||
| Wild Strawberries Wild Strawberries (film) Wild Strawberries is a 1957 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, about an old man recalling his past. The original Swedish title is Smultronstället, which literally means "the wild strawberry patch", but idiomatically means an underrated gem of a place... |
Henrik Åkerman | ||
| 1958 | Brink of Life Brink of Life Brink of Life, is a 1958 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman won the Best Director Award and Anderson, Dahlbeck, Ornäs and Thulin won the Best Actress Award at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Eva Dahlbeck as Stina Andersson... |
Harry Andersson | |
| Rabies Rabies (film) Rabies is a 1958 Swedish television drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman.-Cast:* Bibi Andersson – Eivor* Axel Düberg – Cpl. Sven* Åke Fridell – Sixten Garberg* Tor Isedal – Knut* Åke Jörnfalk – Rolf* Gunnel Lindblom – Jenny* Dagny Lind – Aunt... |
Bo Stensson Svenningson | ||
| The Magician The Magician (1958 film) The Magician is a 1958 film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Its original Swedish title is Ansiktet, which means "the face", and it was released theatrically as The Face in the United Kingdom, although video releases have used the U.S. title.The film stars Max von Sydow as a traveling... |
Albert Emanuel Vogler | ||
| 1960 | The Virgin Spring The Virgin Spring The Virgin Spring is a 1960 Swedish drama film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a revenge tale about a father's merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was adapted by screenwriter Ulla Isaksson from a 13th century Swedish ballad, "Töres... |
Töre | |
| The Wedding Day | Anders Frost | ||
| 1961 | Through a Glass Darkly Through a Glass Darkly (film) Through a Glass Darkly is a 1961 Swedish film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and produced by Allan Ekelund. The film is a three-act "chamber film", in which four family members act as mirrors for each other. It is the first of many Bergman films to be shot on the island of Fårö... |
Martin | |
| 1962 | The Adventures of Nils Holgersson | The Father | |
| The Mistress The Mistress (film) The Mistress is a 1962 Swedish drama film directed by Vilgot Sjöman. It marked Sjöman's directoral debut and was entered into the 13th Berlin International Film Festival where Bibi Andersson won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award... |
Married Man | ||
| 1963 | Winter Light Winter Light Winter Light is a 1962 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bergman regulars Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin and Max von Sydow. The film follows Tomas Ericsson , pastor of a small rural Swedish church, as he deals with existential crisis and his... |
Jonas Persson | |
| 1965 | 4 x 4 | Kvist | (segment "Uppehåll i myrlandet") |
| The Reward The Reward The Reward is a 1965 American Western film directed by Serge Bourguignon based on a novel by Michael Barrett and starring Max von Sydow, Yvette Mimieux and Efrem Zimbalist Jr..... |
Scott Swenson | ||
| The Greatest Story Ever Told The Greatest Story Ever Told The Greatest Story Ever Told is a 1965 American epic film produced and directed by George Stevens and distributed by United Artists. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus Christ, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. This film is notable for its large ensemble cast and for being the last... |
Jesus Christ | ||
| 1966 | The Quiller Memorandum The Quiller Memorandum The Quiller Memorandum is a film adaptation of the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Trevor Dudley-Smith under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger and Alec Guinness. The film was shot on... |
Oktober | |
| Hawaii Hawaii (film) Hawaii is a 1966 American film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, along with his new bride , becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands... |
Rev. Abner Hale | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama | |
| Here's Your Life Here's Your Life Here's Your Life is a 1966 Swedish drama film directed by Jan Troell, based on the second of Eyvind Johnson's semi-autobiographical series of four novels Romanen om Olof, about a working-class boy growing up in northern Sweden.-Selected cast:... |
Smålands-Pelle | ||
| 1967 | The Diary of Anne Frank The Diary of Anne Frank (1967 TV movie) The Diary of Anne Frank was a 1967 TV miniseries based on the book The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. The TV movie was directed by Alex Segal and it was adapted from the play of the same name by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich... |
Otto Frank Otto Frank Otto Heinrich "Pim" Frank was a German-born businessman and the father of Anne Frank and Margot Frank... |
(TV) |
| 1968 | Hour of the Wolf Hour of the Wolf Hour of the Wolf is a 1968 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. It combines elements of the film drama, surrealist film and horror film.-Plot:... |
Johan Borg | |
| Black Palm Trees | Gustav Olofsson | ||
| Shame | Jan Rosenberg | ||
| 1969 | Made in Sweden Made in Sweden (film) Made in Sweden is a 1969 Swedish drama film directed by Johan Bergenstråhle. It was entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won a Silver Bear award.-Cast:* Lena Granhagen - Kristina* Per Myrberg - Jörgen Stenberg... |
Magnus Rud | |
| The Passion of Anna The Passion of Anna The Passion of Anna is a 1969 Swedish drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Bergman was awarded Best Director at the 1971 National Society of Film Critics Awards for the film.-Plot:... |
Andreas Winkelman | ||
| 1970 | The Kremlin Letter The Kremlin Letter The Kremlin Letter is an American noir film directed by John Huston, starring Richard Boone, Orson Welles, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Patrick O'Neal and George Sanders. It was released in February 1970 by 20th Century-Fox... |
Colonel Kosnov | |
| 1971 | The Night Visitor The Night Visitor The Night Visitor is a 1971 Swedish psychological thriller film, starring Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Trevor Howard, Per Oscarsson, Rupert Davies and Andrew Keir, and directed by Laslo Benedek.... |
Salem | |
| The Emigrants | Karl Oskar | ||
| The Apple War The Apple War The Apple War is a 1971 Swedish comedy-drama film directed by Tage Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman, Hans Alfredsson, Tage Danielsson, Monica Zetterlund and Max von Sydow. The political theme of the film is the battle between nature on the one hand and commercialisation and industrialisation on... |
Roy Lindberg | ||
| The Touch | Andreas Vergerus | ||
| 1972 | Embassy Embassy (film) Embassy is a 1972 film based on a spy thriller novel by Stephen Coulter. It was a British film directed by Gordon Hessler, written by John Bird and William Fairchild, and with music scored by Biddu.... |
Gorenko | |
| The New Land The New Land Nybyggarna is a 1972 Swedish film written by Bengt Forslund and directed by Jan Troell. It stars Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann and Eddie Axberg.... |
Karl Oskar | ||
| 1973 | The Exorcist The Exorcist (film) The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her... |
Father Lankester Merrin Lankester Merrin Father Lankester Merrin is a fictional character in the novel The Exorcist , its film adaptation, The Exorcist , and several sequel films... |
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year.... |
| 1974 | Steppenwolf Steppenwolf (film) Steppenwolf is a 1974 film adaptation of Hermann Hesse's 1928 novel of the same name. The film made heavy use of visual special effects that were cutting-edge at the time of its release.... |
Harry Haller | |
| 1975 | The Ultimate Warrior The Ultimate Warrior (1975 film) The Ultimate Warrior is a 1975 science fiction and action-adventure film directed by Robert Clouse. One of the first in a series of post-apocalyptic films from the 1960s and 1970s, it is set in post-civilization 2012 New York City and depicts the struggles of a small enclave of inhabitants... |
Baron | |
| Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story is a 1975 Swedish comedy film directed by Hans Alfredson, starring Gösta Ekman, Max von Sydow and Birgitta Andersson.... |
The Father | ||
| Three Days of the Condor Three Days of the Condor Three Days of the Condor is a 1975 American action thriller film produced by Stanley Schneider and directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay, by Lorenzo Semple Jr... |
G. Joubert | KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor The Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award given by the Kansas City Film Critics Circle to honor the best achievements in acting.-1960s:-1970:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*... |
|
| 1976 | Cuore di cane Cuore di cane Cuore di cane is a 1976 joint Italian-German film directed by Alberto Lattuada based on a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov adapted by Mario Gallo. Screenplay by Alberto Lattuada with Viveca Melander. Composer - Piero Piccioni, editor - Sergio Montanari. Cinematography by Lamberto Caimi. Production... |
Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazenski | |
| Voyage of the Damned Voyage of the Damned Voyage of the Damned is the title of a 1974 book written by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, which was the basis of a 1976 drama film with the same title.The story was inspired by true events concerning the fate of the MS St... |
Captain Schroeder | ||
| The Desert of the Tartars The Desert of the Tartars The Desert of the Tartars is a 1976 award-winning film by Italian director Valerio Zurlini with an international cast, including Jacques Perrin, Vittorio Gassman, Max von Sydow, Francisco Rabal, Helmut Griem, Giuliano Gemma, Philippe Noiret, Fernando Rey, and Jean-Louis Trintignant... |
Hortiz | ||
| Foxtrot Foxtrot (film) Foxtrot is a 1976 British drama film directed by Arturo Ripstein and starring Peter O'Toole, Charlotte Rampling and Max von Sydow.... |
Larsen | ||
| Illustrious Corpses Illustrious Corpses Illustrious Corpses is a 1976 thriller film directed by Francesco Rosi and starring Lino Ventura. The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition... |
Supreme Court's President | ||
| 1977 | March or Die March or Die (film) March or Die is a 1977 film directed by Dick Richards, starring Gene Hackman, Terence Hill, Catherine Deneuve and Ian Holm.The film celebrates the 1920s French Foreign Legion... |
François Marneau | |
| Exorcist II: The Heretic Exorcist II: The Heretic Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to The Exorcist , directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by William Goodhart and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty and Kitty Winn... |
Father Lankester Merrin Lankester Merrin Father Lankester Merrin is a fictional character in the novel The Exorcist , its film adaptation, The Exorcist , and several sequel films... |
||
| 1978 | Brass Target Brass Target Brass Target is a 1978 American war film, based on the novel The Algonquin Project by Frederick Nolan and directed by John Hough. It stars John Cassavetes, Robert Vaughn, George Kennedy, Patrick McGoohan and Max von Sydow.... |
Shelley | |
| 1979 | Hurricane Hurricane (1979 film) Hurricane is a 1979 romance, epic-adventure film featuring an all-star cast and impressive special effects, produced by: Dino De Laurentiis and Lorenzo Semple Jr, and directed by Jan Troell... |
Dr. Danielsson | |
| 1980 | Death Watch Death Watch Death Watch is a 1980 science fiction film directed by Bertrand Tavernier. It is based on the novel The Unsleeping Eye by David G. Compton, also known as The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe... |
Gerald Mortenhoe | |
| Flash Gordon Flash Gordon (film) Flash Gordon is a 1980 British/American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian... |
Ming the Merciless Ming the Merciless Ming the Merciless is a fictional character who first appeared in the Flash Gordon comic strip in 1934. He has since been the main villain of the strip and its related movie serials, TV shows and film adaptation.- First appearance :... |
Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor | |
| 1981 | Escape to Victory Escape to Victory Escape to Victory, known simply as Victory in North America, is a 1981 film about Allied prisoners of war who are interned in a German prison camp during World War II... |
Major Karl Von Steiner—The Germans | aka: "Victory" |
| 1982 | Flight of the Eagle Flight of the Eagle Flight of the Eagle is a 1982 Swedish biographical drama film directed by Jan Troell, based on Per Olof Sundman's novelization of the true story of S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897, an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished. The film... |
Salomon August Andrée | Venice Film Festival Pasinetti Cup for Best Actor Venice Film Festival The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the... |
| Conan the Barbarian | King Osric | ||
| 1983 | Strange Brew Strange Brew The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew is a 1983 Canadian comedy film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who also served as co-directors. Max von Sydow co-stars.... |
Brewmeister Smith | aka: "The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew" |
| Never Say Never Again Never Say Never Again Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball... |
Ernst Stavro Blofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably... |
Unofficial James Bond film | |
| 1984 | Dreamscape Dreamscape (film) Dreamscape is a 1984 science fiction horror film directed by Joseph Ruben and written by David Loughery, with Chuck Russell and Ruben co-writing... |
Doctor Paul Novotny | |
| Samson and Delilah Samson and Delilah (1984 film) Samson and Delilah is a 1984 television movie adaptation of the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, starring Max von Sydow, Belinda Bauer, Antony Hamilton, Daniel Stern and Victor Mature, who played Samson in the 1949 film, having a small cameo as the father of Antony Hamilton's Samson... |
Sidka | (TV) | |
| The Soldier's Tale | The Devil Devil The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly... |
||
| Dune Dune (film) Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco... |
Doctor Kynes | ||
| 1985 | Code Name: Emerald Code Name: Emerald Code Name: Emerald is a 1985 action-drama film about a spy for the Allies working undercover in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film was directed by Jonathan Sanger, and stars Ed Harris, Max von Sydow, Eric Stoltz, and Patrick Stewart... |
Jurgen Brausch | |
| Christopher Colombus | King John of Portugal John II of Portugal John II , the Perfect Prince , was the thirteenth king of Portugal and the Algarves... |
TV Mini-series | |
| The Last Place on Earth The Last Place on Earth The Last Place on Earth is a 1985 Central Television seven part serial, written by Trevor Griffiths based on the book Scott and Amundsen by Roland Huntford. The book is an exploration of the expeditions of Captain Robert F... |
Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a... |
TV Mini-series | |
| Kojak: The Belarus File | Peter Barak | (TV) | |
| Quo Vadis? | The Apostle Peter Saint Peter Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle... |
TV Mini-series | |
| The Repenter | Spinola | ||
| 1986 | Duet for One Duet for One Duet for One is a film adapted from an award-winning British play, a two-hander by Tom Kempinski, about a world-famous concert violinist named Stephanie Anderson who is suddenly struck with multiple sclerosis. It is set in London and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky... |
Dr. Louis Feldman | |
| Hannah and Her Sisters Hannah and Her Sisters Hannah and Her Sisters is a 1986 American comedy-drama film which tells the intertwined stories of an extended family over two years that begin and end with a family Thanksgiving dinner... |
Frederick | ||
| The Second Victory The Second Victory The Second Victory is a 1986 British drama film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Anthony Andrews, Helmut Griem and Max von Sydow.... |
Dr. Huber | ||
| The Wolf at the Door | August Strindberg August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,... |
aka: "Oviri" | |
| 1987 | Pelle the Conqueror Pelle the Conqueror Pelle the Conqueror is a 1987 Danish film by Bille August that tells the story of two Swedish immigrants to Denmark, a father and son, who try to build a new life for themselves... |
Lassefar | Bodil Award Best Actor Bodil Awards The Bodil Awards are the major Danish film awards given by Denmark's National Association of Film Critics . The awards are presented annually at a ceremony in the Imperial Cinema in Copenhagen. Established in 1948, it is one of the oldest film awards in Europe... European Film Award for Best Actor European Film Award for Best Actor -1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-External links:*... Guldbagge Award Best Actor Guldbagge Award The Guldbagge Award is an official Swedish film award awarded annually since 1964 by the Swedish Film Institute.-Etymology:Guldbagge is the Swedish name for Cetonia aurata, a beetle also known as rose chafer. The name of the award could also be interpreted as a play on the Swedish word skalbagge,... Robert Festival Best Actor Cinema of Denmark Denmark has been producing films since 1897 and since the 1980s has maintained a steady stream of product due largely to funding by the state-supported Danish Film Institute. Historically, Danish films have been noted for their realism, religious and moral themes, sexual frankness and technical... Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
| 1988 | Katinka Katinka (film) Katinka is a 1988 Danish-Swedish drama film directed by Max von Sydow. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Tammi Øst - Katinka* Ole Ernst - Bai* Kurt Ravn - Wilhelm Huus* Erik Paaske - Linde... |
First and only film as director | |
| 1989 | Red King, White Knight | Szaz | Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie |
| Ghostbusters II Ghostbusters II Ghostbusters II is a 1989 science fiction comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Ghostbusters and follows the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities... |
Vigo the Carpathian | Voice, dubbed voice | |
| 1990 | A Violent Life | Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:... |
|
| Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes | Father Siemes | (TV) | |
| Father Father (film) Father is a 1990 film about a retired German immigrant living in Australia, Joe Muller , who is accused of being a former Nazi who committed war crimes in the Second World War by a strange woman called Iya Zetnick... |
Joe Mueller | Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role The AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role is an award in the annual AACTA Awards, presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts... |
|
| Awakenings Awakenings Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir Awakenings. It tells the true story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks, fictionalized as American Malcolm Sayer and portrayed by Robin Williams who, in 1969, discovers beneficial effects of the then-new drug L-Dopa... |
Dr. Peter Ingham | ||
| 1991 | The Ox | Vicar | |
| Until the End of the World Until the End of the World Until the End of the World is a 1991 film by the German film director Wim Wenders; the screenplay was written by Wenders and Peter Carey, from a story by Wenders and Solveig Dommartin. An initial draft of the screenplay was written by American filmmaker Michael Almereyda... |
Henry Farber | ||
| Europa | Narrator | (voice) | |
| A Kiss Before Dying | Thor Carlsson | ||
| The Bachelor | Von Schleheim | ||
| 1992 | The Best Intentions The Best Intentions The Best Intentions is a 1992 Swedish drama film directed by Bille August and written by Ingmar Bergman. It is semi-autobiographical and tells the story of the complex courtship of Bergman's parents, Erik and Karin , and the difficult early years of their marriage, up to the point where Anna is... |
Johan Åkerblom, Anna's father | Tokyo International Film Festival Best Actor Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter... |
| 1993 | Och ge oss skuggorna | Eugene O'Neill Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish... |
(TV) |
| Needful Things Needful Things (film) Needful Things is the 1993 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name directed by Fraser C. Heston, the son of actor Charlton Heston... |
Leland Gaunt | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor Saturn Award for Best Actor The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed, who felt that films within those genres... |
|
| 1994 | Time Is Money | Joe Kaufman | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Best Actor Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events.... |
| 1995 | Citizen X Citizen X Citizen X is a made-for-TV film, released in 1995, which covers the investigation of the Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of killing 53 women and children between 1978 and 1990, and the efforts of detectives in the Soviet Union to capture him.-Synopsis:The film... |
Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky | (TV) Nominated – CableACE Award for Supporting Actor in a Movie or a Miniseries CableACE Award The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming... |
| Judge Dredd Judge Dredd (film) Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD... |
Judge Fargo Chief Judge Fargo Chief Judge Eustace Fargo is an important fictional character from the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. He is Judge Dredd's clone father.... |
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| 1996 | Private Confessions Private Confessions Private Confessions is a 1996 Swedish drama film directed by Liv Ullmann and written by Ingmar Bergman. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Pernilla August – Anna* Max von Sydow – Jacob... |
Jacob | (TV) |
| Samson and Delilah Samson and Delilah (1996 film) Samson and Delilah is a German/Italian/American telefilm that premiered on TNT on December 8, 1996. It was directed by Nicolas Roeg. This biblical movie was shot in Morocco.- Storyline :... |
Narrator | (TV) (voice) | |
| Hamsun Hamsun (film) Hamsun is a 1996 Danish-Swedish-Norwegian-German drama directed by Jan Troell, about the later life of the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun , who together with his wife Marie Hamsun , went from being national saints to national traitors after supporting Nazi Germany during their occupation of Norway... |
Knut Hamsun | Guldbagge Award Best Actor Guldbagge Award The Guldbagge Award is an official Swedish film award awarded annually since 1964 by the Swedish Film Institute.-Etymology:Guldbagge is the Swedish name for Cetonia aurata, a beetle also known as rose chafer. The name of the award could also be interpreted as a play on the Swedish word skalbagge,... Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actor Valladolid Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales... |
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| 1997 | Solomon | David | (TV) |
| The Princess and the Pauper The Princess and the Pauper The Princess and the Pauper is a 1939 Technicolor cartoon sponsored film. It is actually an advertisement for Chevrolet. A king offers his daughter hand in marriage to the wealthiest man in the kingdom. More deserving is a pauper boy, who tries to get to girl with help from Nicky Nome. It is a... |
Epos | (TV) | |
| Hostile Waters Hostile Waters (film) Hostile Waters is a British 1997 television film about the loss of the K-219, a Yankee I class nuclear ballistic missile sub. The film stars Rutger Hauer as the commander of K-219 and claims to be based on the true story. The film was produced by World Productions for the BBC and HBO, in... |
Admiral Chernavin | (TV) | |
| 1998 | What Dreams May Come What Dreams May Come (film) What Dreams May Come is a 1998 American supernatural drama film, starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet's To be, or not to... |
The Tracker | |
| 1999 | Snow Falling on Cedars Snow Falling on Cedars (film) Snow Falling on Cedars is a film directed by Scott Hicks. It is based on David Guterson's novel of the same title. It was released in 1999 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.-Plot:... |
Nels Gudmundsson | |
| 2000 | Nuremberg Nuremberg (2000 film) Nuremberg is a 2000 Canadian/United States television docudrama, based on the book Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial by Joseph E. Persico, that tells the story of the Nuremberg Trials.-Part one:... |
Samuel Irving Rosenman Samuel Irving Rosenman Samuel Irving Rosenman was a U.S. lawyer, judge, Democratic political figure, and presidential speechwriter.-Personal life and political career:... |
TV Mini-series |
| 2001 | Intacto Intacto Intacto is a film thriller first released in Spain during November, 2001, and then internationally on the film festival circuit in 2002. It was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.... |
Samuel | |
| Druids Druids (film) Druids is a French film first released on 31 August 2001, directed by Jacques Dorfmann... |
Guttuart | ||
| Sleepless Sleepless (2001 film) Sleepless is a 2001 horror film by Dario Argento. The film stars Max von Sydow and Stefano Dionisi and marks Argento's return to the giallo subgenre... |
Ulisse Moretti | ||
| 2002 | Minority Report Minority Report (film) Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C... |
Director Lamar Burgess | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2004 | Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King is a fantasy film and mini-series based on the Norse mythology story Völsungasaga and the German epic poem Nibelungenlied, which tells the mythological story of Siegfried the Dragon-Slayer... |
Eyvind | (TV) |
| 2005 | Heidi Heidi (2005 live-action film) Heidi is a 2005 British film directed by Paul Marcus. It Is based on the original novel of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. It tells a story about a girl who goes to stay with her grandfather, only to fall into the hands of an evil woman in Frankfurt.... |
Uncle Alp | |
| 2006 | The Inquiry The Inquiry (film) L'inchiesta is a 2006 historical drama film set in AD 35 in the Roman Empire. The story follows a fictional Roman general named Titus Valerius Taurus, a veteran of campaigns in Germania, who is sent to Judaea by the emperor Tiberius to investigate the possibility of the divinity of the recently... |
Tiberius | |
| 2007 | Rush Hour 3 Rush Hour 3 Rush Hour 3 is a 2007 martial arts/action-comedy film, and the third installment in the Rush Hour film series, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, that began with the 1998 film Rush Hour and continued with the first sequel Rush Hour 2 in 2001. The film was officially announced on May 7, 2006,... |
Reynard | |
| Emotional Arithmetic | Jakob Bronski | Nominated – Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role The Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best supporting Canadian actor.-1st Genie Awards:* Gordon Pinsent, Jack London's Klondike Fever... |
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| The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a 2007 biographical drama film based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir of the same name. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The... |
Papinou | ||
| 2009 | The Tudors The Tudors The Tudors is a Canadian produced historical fiction television series filmed in Ireland, created by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime... |
Cardinal Von Walburg Otto Truchsess von Waldburg Otto Truchsess von Waldburg was Prince-Bishop of Augsburg from 1543 until his death and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.-Childhood and Education:... |
(TV series) (4 episodes) |
| Ghostbusters: The Video Game Ghostbusters: The Video Game Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a 2009 cross-platform action game based on the Ghostbusters film franchise. Terminal Reality developed the Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions, while Red Fly Studio developed the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii versions, and Zen Studios... |
Vigo the Carpathian | Video Game Voice-over | |
| Solomon Kane Solomon Kane (film) Solomon Kane is a 2009 epic action film directed by Michael J. Bassett based on the pulp magazine character Solomon Kane created in 1928 by Robert E. Howard. James Purefoy stars in the title role. Despite optioning the rights in 1997, filming did not begin until January 2008. The film is an origin... |
Josiah Kane | ||
| A Man and His Dog A Man and His Dog A Man and His Dog is a 2009 French film directed by French director Francis Huster, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, based on the 1952 film Umberto D... |
The Commander | Cameo | |
| 2010 | Shutter Island | Dr. Jeremiah Naehring | |
| Robin Hood Robin Hood (2010 film) Robin Hood is a 2010 British/American adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett... |
Sir Walter Loxley | ||
| The Wolfman (Extended Cut) | Man on train with silver cane (uncredited) | Even though his part was removed from the theatrical cut, there is still a credit for "Assistant to Mr. Von Sydow." | |
| 2011 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion... |
Esbern | Video Game Voice-over |
| 2012 | Truth & Treason | Frank Fikeis | |
| Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (film) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an upcoming 2011 American drama film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer, directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey... |