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Max von Sydow

Acting

Born April 10, 1929 · Lund, Skåne län, Sweden

Died March 8, 2020

Also known as Max Carl Adolf von Sydow · Max Von Sydow · Макс фон Сюдов

Biography

Max von Sydow (born Carl Adolf von Sydow; April 10, 1929 – March 8, 2020) was a Swedish actor. He also held French citizenship since 2002. He starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more. He 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, and Ming the Merciless in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award - Best Leading Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988) and Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).

Awards & recognition

  • Sitges Grand Honorary Award · 2016
  • Knight of the Legion of Honour · 2012
  • Donostia Award · 2006
  • European Film AwardBest Actor · 1988
  • Guldbagge AwardBest Director · 1988
Show all 11 awards →
  • Litteris et Artibus · 1978
  • Swedish Academy's Theatre Award · 1968
  • Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actor · 2012 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actor · 1989 · nominated
  • European Film AwardBest Actor · 1988 · nominated

Filmography50+ titles

Game of Thrones

2011as Three-Eyed Raven

Shutter Island

2010as Dr. Naehring

The Seventh Seal

1957as Antonius Block

Wild Strawberries

1957as Åkerman

Ring of the Nibelungs

2004as Eyvind

The Simpsons

1989as Klaus Ziegler (voice)

The Diary of Anne Frank

1967as Otto Frank

Light Keeps Me Company

2000as Self

Winter Light

1963as Jonas Persson

The Virgin Spring

1960as Töre

The Tudors

2007as Cardinal Von Waldburg

Awakenings

1990as Peter Ingham

Through a Glass Darkly

1961as Martin

Heidi

2005as Uncle Alp

The Exorcist

1973as Father Lankester Merrin

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2007as Papinou

Hannah and Her Sisters

1986as Frederick

The Passion of Anna

1969as Andreas Winkelman

Shame

1968as Jan Rosenberg

Brink of Life

1958as Harry Andersson

Minority Report

2002as Director Lamar Burgess

Europa

1991as Narrator (voice)

Hour of the Wolf

1968as Johan Borg

The Magician

1958as Albert Emanuel Vogler

The Last Place on Earth

as Fridtjof Nansen

I Am Divine

2013as Self (archive)

Pelle the Conqueror

1987as Lasse Karlsson - Farmhand

Three Days of the Condor

1975as G. Joubert

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

2015as Lor San Tekka

What Dreams May Come

1998as The Tracker

Hamsun

1996as Knut Hamsun

Citizen X

1995as Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky

Interlude in the Marshland

1965as Alex Kvist

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

2011as The Renter

The Best Intentions

1992as Johan Åkerblom

Here Is Your Life

1966as Smålands-Pelle

Victory

1981as Major Karl von Steiner

Conan the Barbarian

1982as King Osric

Illustrious Corpses

1976as Supreme Court President

Solomon

1997as Davide

Until the End of the World

1991as Henry Farber

Echoes of the Past

2021as Nikolas Andreou (Aged)

The Command

2018as Admiral Vladimir Petrenko

Intacto

2001as Samuel

The Ox

1991as Vicar

Ghostbusters II

1989as Vigo (voice) (uncredited)

Miss Julie

1951as Groom

Oscar and the Lady in Pink

2009as Le docteur Dusseldorf

Rush Hour 3

2007as Varden Reynard

The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles

1992as Sigmund Freud