BIBI ANDERSSON

(11 November 1935 - 14 April 2019)

The Swedish actress Bibi Andersson, who has died aged 83, became known to the world as one of Ingmar Bergman’s leading ladies. She worked on stage and on television as well as in films. She began her career playing small parts and doing commercials until she gained a place at the Royal Dramatic Theatre’s acting school in Stockholm in 1954. Following a short relationship with Bergman she joined him at the Malmṏ City Theatre and then appeared in his film Smiles of a Summer Night, which Stephen Sondheim later used as the basis of his musical A Little Night Music. Although she made films with other directors, the very beautiful Andersson did her best work with Bergman, appearing in The Seventh Seal, Rabies, Wild Strawberries, So Close to Life, The Magician, The Devil’s Eye, Now About These Women, Persona, The Passion of Anna, The Touch, Scenes from a Marriage and the TV short Mr Sleeman Is Coming. She also worked with other notable Swedish directors including on Alf Sjṏberg’s Last Pair Out (written by Bergman) and The Island, Stig Olin’s You Are My Adventure, Alf Kjellin’s The Pleasure Garden (also written by Bergman), Vilgot Sjṏman’s The Mistress and My Sister My Love, and Lars-Magnus Lindgren’s Black Palm Trees. Outside of Sweden, Andersson was in Square of Violence with Broderick Crawford, Duel at Diablo with James Garner, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze’s A Question of Rape, John Huston’s The Kremlin Letter with Richard Boone, Story of a Woman with Robert Stack, a TV movie of Arthur Miller’s After the Fall, VortQuality work in a film that nevertheless fails to hang togetherQuality work in a film that nevertheless fails to hang togetherex with Rod Taylor, Andrḗ Cayatte’s Question of Love, Anthony Page’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, An Enemy of the People with Steve McQueen, Robert Altman’s Quintet with Paul Newman, Airport ’79 with Alain Delon, Exposed with Rudolf Nureyev, Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast and Stephen Poliakoff’s TV movie The Lost Prince. Her last work, in 2010, was a TV series called Arn. She then retired, following a stroke. Bibi Andersson was married three times: to the writer-director Kjell Grede, the politician Per Ahlmark, and Gabriel Mora Baeza. She has one child from her first marriage.

MICHAEL DARVELL