MAX VON SYDOW

(10 April 1929 - 8 March 2020)

International cinema was first aware of the Swedish actor Max von Sydow, who has died aged 90, through his films made with director Ingmar Bergman. Although they had worked together in Swedish theatre, their first film together was The Seventh Seal in 1957. Bergman had made films from the mid-1940s, but The Seventh Seal really put him on the world map. Von Sydow played a 14th-century knight returning from the Crusades, having lost his faith in God. The film had a commanding performance by the actor who was very tall with a deeply sonorous voice. There were further films with Bergman: Wild Strawberries, So Close to Life, The Face, The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light (1962). Later he was back with Bergman for The Hour of the Wolf, Shame, The Passion of Anna and The Touch.
For Max Von Sydow the wider world of cinema also called. He turned down the title role in Dr No, but later played Blofeld in Never Say Never Again. He appeared to be the embodiment of Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told, was creepily outstanding in the title role of The Exorcist and its first sequel, managed to replicate Charles Middleton’s original 1930s persona as Ming the Merciless for Flash Gordon in 1980, and lent gravitas as the King opposite Arnie in Conan the Barbarian. Some of his other films included The Reward with Yvette Mimieux, Hawaii with Julie Andrews, Michael Anderson’s The Quiller Memorandum, John Huston’s The Kremlin Letter, Fred Haines’ Steppenwolf, Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor, Francesco Rosi’s Illustrious Corpses, Voyage of the Damned with Faye Dunaway, Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters, Duet for One with Julie Andrews, Bille August’s Pelle the Conqueror (Oscar nomination), Judge Dredd with Sylvester Stallone, Dario Argento’s Sleepless, Spielberg’s Minority Report, Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood (as Sir Walter Loxley), Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Oscar nomination), Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Thomas Vinterberg’s Kursk and six films with director Jan Troell. On the way he was in TV series of Quo Vadis?, Christopher Columbus, The Tudors and, latterly, Game of Thrones, as the Three-Eyed Raven. Max Von Sydow married the actress Christina Olin in 1951 and they have two sons, Clas and Henrik. After divorcing in 1979, he married the director Catherine Brelet in 1997 with whom he also has two sons, Cedric and Yvan.

MICHAEL DARVELL