Max von Sydow
The Swedish icon who challenged Death to a game of chess.
Max von Sydow (born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was an actor with both Swedish and French citizenship. Over 70 years, he worked across European and American film, television, and theatre, performing in more than 150 movies and multiple TV series in several languages. His range was broad: he could play stoic, thoughtful heroes, sardonic artists, and menacing—often gleeful—villains. He earned honors from the Cannes and Venice film festivals, and received two Academy Award nominations: one for Best Actor in *Pelle the Conqueror* (1987), and another for Best Supporting Actor in *Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close* (2011).
- born
- 10 April 1929, Lund, Sweden
- died
- 8 March 2020
- field
- Actor
- nationality
- Swedish and French
- known_for
- The Seventh Seal, The Exorcist, Pelle the Conqueror, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Lore & Background
Von Sydow was first noticed internationally for playing the 14th-century knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), which features iconic scenes of his character challenging Death to a game of chess. He appeared in eleven films directed by Bergman, including The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), Shame (1968), and The Touch (1971). Von Sydow made his American film debut as Jesus Christ in the Biblical epic film The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and went on to star in films such as Hawaii (1966), The Exorcist (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Flash Gordon (1980), Conan the Barbarian (1982) and the James Bond adaptation Never Say Never Again (1983). He also appeared in supporting roles in Dune (1984), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Awakenings (1990), Minority Report (2002), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), Shutter Island (2010), Robin Hood (2010), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). He portrayed the main antagonist Leland Gaunt (The Devil) in Needful Things (1993). In 2016, he portrayed Bloodraven in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
Reader's Guide
Von Sydow received the Royal Foundation of Sweden's Cultural Award in 1954, was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur on 17 October 2012. He was born on 10 April 1929 in Lund, Sweden. He served for two years in the Swedish Army with the Army Quartermaster Corps, where he adopted the name 'Max' from the star performer of a flea circus he saw. After completing his service, Sydow studied at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm where he trained between 1948 and 1951.
Did You Know?
- Von Sydow was originally expected to pursue a career in law before becoming interested in acting after seeing a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
- He refused the opportunity to play the title role for Dr. No (1962) and Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965).
- Von Sydow was raised as a Lutheran but became an agnostic in the 1970s.
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