Örjan Ramberg
Encyclopedia
Ralf Örjan Valter Ramberg, né Rahmberg (February 26, 1948), is a Swedish
actor, born in Örgryte
, Gothenburg
.
(1971) and Jesus Christ Superstar
(1972; opposite, among others, Agnetha Fältskog
from ABBA
as Mary Magdalene
). He was later educated in the dramatic arts at Sweden's National Academy of Dramatic Art
(in Sweden colloquially known as "Scenskolan") in Malmö
, 1974-77. Since 1978 he's been part of Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre
(Dramaten) ensemble, becoming one of the theatre's most popular actors.
's En kall miljon (A Cool Million), Ben Jonson
's Alkemisten
, Marivaux's Paradisbarn, Bulgakov's Mästaren och Margarita, Lars Norén
's Natten är dagens mor, Margaretha Garpe's Till Julia, Lessing
's Emilio Gallotti, in the stage adaptation of Astrid Lindgren
's Emil i Lönneberga (children's theatre production), Shepard's En riktig västern, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
, Sommar (Summer) written and directed by Lars Norén
, Beaumarchais
' Figaros Bröllop (The Marriage of Figaro), Federico García Lorca
's Blodsbröllop (Blood Wedding), Shakespeare's Lika för lika (Measure for Measure), Euripides
' Medea (directed by Lennart Hjulström
), Shakespeare's Så tuktas en argbigga (The Taming of the Shrew) children's play Mio, min Mio (based on the novel by Astrid Lindgren
) and in Alfred de Musset
's Lek ej med kärleken (On ne badine pas avec l'amour ), among others.
In the 2000s he has collaborated on stage with directors Ingmar Bergman
and John Caird
in particular. He portrayed Johansson in Strindberg
's classic The Ghost Sonata
, directed by Bergman in 2000, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream
, directed by Caird in 2000, The Emcee in hit musical Cabaret
(2001), Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Caird), Ibsen's Gengångare (Ghosts), (directed by Bergman; 2002) and the leading role in Molière
's (The Imaginary Invalid) in 2003.
Most recently he appeared as Charles Condomine in Noel Coward
's Min fru går igen (Blithe Spirit
) (2005), in the co-Nordic production of the Sami
staging of Ibsen's Kungsämnena (The Pretenders
) and in Shakespeare's Macbeth
(directed by Staffan Valdemar Holm
) spring/autumn 2006.
On film and TV he has appeared sporadically over the years; among his most memorable parts are his investigating photographer Harry Friberg in the Stieg Trenter
-crime films for television in 1987, his Chief Editor Schyman in Colin Nutley
's thriller (aka Deadline/The Bomber), based on the book by Liza Marklund
, and his recent supporting part as the bar pianist in TV-series (The Furniture Salesman's Daughter) (2006).
colleague Lena Olin
with whom he has son Auguste. He also for some years in the 1980s-90s lived with actress Ewa Fröling
with whom he has daughter Tilde
. Örjan Ramberg presently (2009) has lived with Susanne Otto for 7 years. He also has another son, Georg.
Örjan Ramberg is a many times rewarded actor for his stage work: in 1994 he was awarded with the Golden Mask
(which is the Swedish equivalent to the Tony Award
/s) for Best Actor for his portrayal of Murphy in the stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (at Folkan 1993/94) and in 2001 he received the prestigious Eugene O'Neill Award
.
's production of Strindberg's The Dance of Death
premiered at the Royal Dramatic Theatre with Ramberg in the lead as The Captain; the production received great reviews and brought immense critical acclaim for Ramberg in the part (with both original parts of the play performed together; Dödsdansen I-II).
In spring 2008 he appeared as King Claudius
in Staffan Valdemar Holm
's production of Hamlet
by Shakespeare (original cast), and in spring 2009 he will appear in Chekhov
's Uncle Vanya
.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
actor, born in Örgryte
Örgryte
Örgryte is one of the 21 stadsdelsnämndsområden of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class to upper class residential area, just to the east of the city centre...
, Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
.
Biography
Örjan Ramberg started his acting career in musicals with successful leading parts in the original Swedish stagings of HairHair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
(1971) and Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
(1972; opposite, among others, Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
from ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
as Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
). He was later educated in the dramatic arts at Sweden's National Academy of Dramatic Art
Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting
The National Academy of Mime and Acting , known in Swedish as Teaterhögskolan i Stockholm, is a school in Stockholm for acting and mime...
(in Sweden colloquially known as "Scenskolan") in Malmö
Malmö
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...
, 1974-77. Since 1978 he's been part of Sweden's 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) ensemble, becoming one of the theatre's most popular actors.
Acting work
On stage, Örjan Ramberg has shown his range as an incredibly versatile and strong character actor in number of remarkable productions over the years, in both leading and supporting parts: in Nathanael WestNathanael West
Nathanael West was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.- Early life :...
's En kall miljon (A Cool Million), Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
's Alkemisten
The Alchemist (play)
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
, Marivaux's Paradisbarn, Bulgakov's Mästaren och Margarita, Lars Norén
Lars Norén
Lars Norén is a Swedish playwright, novelist and poet. He is considered Sweden's most prominent contemporary playwright of today.Born in Stockholm, Norén wrote his first play at age 19...
's Natten är dagens mor, Margaretha Garpe's Till Julia, Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was a German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist, and art critic, and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the development of German literature...
's Emilio Gallotti, in the stage adaptation of Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren , 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish author and screenwriter who is the world's 25th most translated author and has sold roughly 145 million copies worldwide...
's Emil i Lönneberga (children's theatre production), Shepard's En riktig västern, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, Sommar (Summer) written and directed by Lars Norén
Lars Norén
Lars Norén is a Swedish playwright, novelist and poet. He is considered Sweden's most prominent contemporary playwright of today.Born in Stockholm, Norén wrote his first play at age 19...
, Beaumarchais
Pierre Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French playwright, watchmaker, inventor, musician, diplomat, fugitive, spy, publisher, arms dealer, satirist, financier, and revolutionary ....
' Figaros Bröllop (The Marriage of Figaro), Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
's Blodsbröllop (Blood Wedding), Shakespeare's Lika för lika (Measure for Measure), Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Medea (directed by Lennart Hjulström
Lennart Hjulström
Lennart Hjalmar Hjulström is a Swedish actor and director. He is married to Gunilla Nyroos and father to Niklas and Carin Hjulström...
), Shakespeare's Så tuktas en argbigga (The Taming of the Shrew) children's play Mio, min Mio (based on the novel by Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Lindgren
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren , 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish author and screenwriter who is the world's 25th most translated author and has sold roughly 145 million copies worldwide...
) and in Alfred de Musset
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
's Lek ej med kärleken (On ne badine pas avec l'amour ), among others.
In the 2000s he has collaborated on stage with directors 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...
and John Caird
John Caird (director)
John Newport Caird is a British stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and the Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,...
in particular. He portrayed Johansson in 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 classic The Ghost Sonata
The Ghost Sonata
The Ghost Sonata is a play in three acts by Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in 1907, it was first produced at Strindberg's Intimate Theatre in Stockholm on January 21, 1908. Since then, it has been staged by such notable directors as Max Reinhardt, Olof Molander, Roger Blin, and...
, directed by Bergman in 2000, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, directed by Caird in 2000, The Emcee in hit musical Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
(2001), Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Caird), Ibsen's Gengångare (Ghosts), (directed by Bergman; 2002) and the leading role in Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's (The Imaginary Invalid) in 2003.
Most recently he appeared as Charles Condomine in Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Min fru går igen (Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
) (2005), in the co-Nordic production of the Sami
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
staging of Ibsen's Kungsämnena (The Pretenders
The Pretenders (play)
The Pretenders is a dramatic play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Play overview:The Pretenders was written in bursts during 1863, but Ibsen claims to have had sources and the idea back in 1858. A five-act play in prose set in the thirteenth-century. The play opened at the old Christiania...
) and in Shakespeare's Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(directed by Staffan Valdemar Holm
Staffan Valdemar Holm
Staffan Valdemar Holm is a Swedish-German theatre director.Staffan Valdemar Holm was trained at Statens Teaterskole in Copenhagen, Denmark...
) spring/autumn 2006.
On film and TV he has appeared sporadically over the years; among his most memorable parts are his investigating photographer Harry Friberg in the Stieg Trenter
Stieg Trenter
Stieg Ivar Trenter was a Swedish journalist and popular crime writer.- Biography :Best described as Sweden's own Agatha Christie in popularity and national fan following . Born Stig Johansson, he started out by using the name Stieg Trenter as pseudonym but soon changed his name to it in real life...
-crime films for television in 1987, his Chief Editor Schyman in Colin Nutley
Colin Nutley
Colin Nutley is an English director successful in the Swedish film industry.-Career:Nutley went to Portsmouth Art College and began his career in British television as a graphic designer. He then turned to drama and documentary film-making for ITV, BBC and Channel 4...
's thriller (aka Deadline/The Bomber), based on the book by Liza Marklund
Liza Marklund
Eva Elisabeth "Liza" Marklund is a Swedish journalist and crime writer. She was born in Pålmark near Piteå, Norrbotten. Her novels, most of which feature the fictional character Annika Bengtzon, a newspaper journalist, have been published in thirty languages...
, and his recent supporting part as the bar pianist in TV-series (The Furniture Salesman's Daughter) (2006).
Private life
Ramberg was for many years (mid 1970s-end 80s) partner of Swedish actress and Royal Dramatic TheatreRoyal 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....
colleague Lena Olin
Lena Olin
Lena Maria Jonna Olin is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Olin was born the youngest of three children, in Stockholm, Sweden. She is the daughter of actress Britta Holmberg and the director Stig Olin...
with whom he has son Auguste. He also for some years in the 1980s-90s lived with actress Ewa Fröling
Ewa Fröling
Ewa Fröling, Eva Marie Fröling , is a Swedish actress.She was born in Stockholm. Fröling has appeared on-screen in various roles throughout her career...
with whom he has daughter Tilde
Tilde Fröling
Tilde Maria Henny Märta Fröling is the daughter of the Swedish actors Ewa Fröling and Örjan Ramberg, and a Swedish actress, TV presenter and model.She was the winning participant in the 2005 TV3 celebrity version of Expedition Robinson...
. Örjan Ramberg presently (2009) has lived with Susanne Otto for 7 years. He also has another son, Georg.
Örjan Ramberg is a many times rewarded actor for his stage work: in 1994 he was awarded with the Golden Mask
Guldmasken
Guldmasken , or Guldmasken Awards, is the Swedish equivalent of the Tony Awards, established in 1987.The theatre award is annually handed out for private theatre productions in Swedish theatres.-Categories:...
(which is the Swedish equivalent to the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
/s) for Best Actor for his portrayal of Murphy in the stage production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (at Folkan 1993/94) and in 2001 he received the prestigious Eugene O'Neill Award
Eugene O'Neill Award
The Eugene O'Neill Award , is one of Sweden's finest acting awards for actors of the stage...
.
Current projects
On Feb 3 2007 John CairdJohn Caird (director)
John Newport Caird is a British stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and the Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,...
's production of Strindberg's The Dance of Death
The Dance of Death (play)
The Dance of Death is a play in two parts written by August Strindberg in 1900.-Plot:In Part I, Edgar and his wife Alice live in a granite fortress on a desolate island. Bored and embittered, they torment each other with petty intrigues and well-worn accusations...
premiered at the Royal Dramatic Theatre with Ramberg in the lead as The Captain; the production received great reviews and brought immense critical acclaim for Ramberg in the part (with both original parts of the play performed together; Dödsdansen I-II).
In spring 2008 he appeared as King Claudius
King Claudius
King Claudius is a character and the antagonist from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. He is the brother to King Hamlet, second husband to Gertrude and uncle to Hamlet. He obtained the throne of Denmark by murdering his own brother with poison and then marrying the late king's widow...
in Staffan Valdemar Holm
Staffan Valdemar Holm
Staffan Valdemar Holm is a Swedish-German theatre director.Staffan Valdemar Holm was trained at Statens Teaterskole in Copenhagen, Denmark...
's production of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
by Shakespeare (original cast), and in spring 2009 he will appear in Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
.
Selected filmography
- 2008 - Häxdansen (SVTSveriges TelevisionSveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
, mini series) - 2006 - Den enskilde medborgaren
- 2006 - Möbelhandlarens dotter (TV-series)
- 2003 - Paradiset
- 2001 - SprängarenSprängarenSprängaren may refer to the following:*The Bomber, a 1998 book by Liza Marklund*Deadline based on the book...
- 1996 - Gökboet (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) (TV-theatre)
- 1996 - Nu är pappa trött igen
- 1994 - Stockholm Marathon
- 1993 - SökarnaSökarnaSökarna is a 1993 Swedish crime film directed by Daniel Fridell and Peter Cartriers. Liam Norberg stars as Jocke, a young criminal who after serving jail time becomes a successful bank robber and drug dealer...
- 1986 - Älska mejLove Me!Love Me! is a 1986 Swedish drama film directed by Kay Pollak. It was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Anna Lindén as Sussie* Örjan Ramberg as 'Oxen'* Tomas Fryk as Tomas* Hans Strååt as Larsson...
- 1985 - Falsk som vatten
- 1985 - Svindlande affärer
- 1979 - Repmånad eller Hur man gör pojkar av män
- 1987 - Träff i helfigur
- 1987 - I dag röd
- 1987 - Lysande landning
- 1977 – Jack
Stage work at Dramaten
- Örjan Ramberg's stage credits at the Royal Dramatic Theatre can be found here (info from "Rollboken" - Dramaten.se).
Photographs
- Örjan Ramberg (foreground) on the DVD cover of Stieg Trenter TV crime story Idag röd
- Small pic of Örjan Ramberg (at right; in tux)
- Örjan Ramberg in "KING" Magazine, March 2007
- Actor Örjan Ramberg (left) on stage in Moliére's Den inbillade sjuke (The Imaginary Invalid) at Dramaten, 2005
- As The Captain in Strindberg's "The Dance of Death" (sitting at right) with Stina Ekblad as Alice
- Ramberg as The Captain in "The Dance of Death" in his dance of death..
- Publicity photo at Dramaten.se
