Oscar Profile #49: Max von Sydow

Born April 10, 1929 in Lund, Sweden, Max von Sydow was the son of a professor of ethnology and a baroness who was also a schoolteacher. He developed an early interest in acting and by the time he was twenty had already appeared in his first film. He moved to Malmo, Sweden in 1955 where he met his mentor Ingmar Bergman with whom he would make thirteen films beginning with 1957’s The Seventh Seal in which he played the iconic 14th Century knight.

After appearing in several of Bergman’s award winning classics such as Wild Strawberries; The Virgin Spring and Through a Glass Darkly, von Sydow was sought by Hollywood film-makers. He was the first choice for the title role in Dr. No, the first James Bond film, which he turned down.

His first Hollywood film was George Stevens’ The Greatest Story Ever Told in which he played Jesus. He followed that with another starring role in a major Hollywood film, that of the preacher opposite Julie Andrews in George Roy Hill’s film of James Michener’s Hawaii.

In Hollywood for a while, he played Otto Frank in a 1967 TV version of The Diary of Anne Frank before returning of Sweden and Bergman’s The Hour of the Wolf; Shame and The Passion of Anna.

In the 1970s he was alternately seen in leading roles in such acclaimed Swedish films as The Emigrants and its sequel, The New Land, and supporting roles in such Hollywood made films as The Kremlin Letter; The Exorcist; Three Days of the Condor and Voyage of the Damned.

In the early 1980s he was seen as the Emperor Ming in Flash Gordon and as the villain in Never Say Never Again, finally making an appearance in a James Bond film more than twenty years after first being asked.

His mid-eighties work included such diverse material as David Lynch’s Dune and Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters.

None of von Sydow’s acclaimed work in Bergman’s films had resulted in awards recognition, though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association had honored him with Golden Globe nominations for Hawaii and The Exorcist and the Kansas City Film Critics had awarded him for Three Days of the Condor. It wasn’t until February, 1989, however, that von Sydow was recognized with an Oscar nomination for his performance in the Norwegian Pelle the Conqueror, making him one of the few actors to be nominated for a foreign language performance.

His late career Oscar nomination did not result in an increase in leading roles for von Sydow, but he has continued to stand out in major supporting roles in such films as Snow Falling on Cedars; Minority Report; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Shutter Island.

The still extremely busy actor’s latest film is the highly anticipated Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close about the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

Max von Sydow continues to be an acting force to be reckoned with at the age of 82.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957, 1958 in the U.S.), directed by Ingmar Bergman

Bergman’s early masterpiece is a profound examination of life and death during the Black Plague of the 14th Century. Critical in later years of his own performance which he thought stilted in retrospect, von Sydow is nevertheless mesmerizing as the introspective knight who plays chess with the Grim Reaper. The actor’s seriousness in the role have long givrn audiences the impression that von Sydow is himself very serious in nature, which he insists he isn’t. He also says he doesn’t play chess.

THE EMIGRANTS/THE NEW LAND (1971/72, 1972/73 in the U.S.), directed by Jan Troell

The first of these back-to-back Swedish films perfectly captures the harsh existence of 19th Century life in Europe and the long, tedious journey undertaken by emigrants to the U.S. The second, which is that rare sequel that is even better than the original, perfectly captures of the harsh realities of life in the new world. The performances, particularly of von Sydow and Liv Ullmann as simple peasants seeking a better life and Eddie Axburg as von Sydow’s younger brother are astonishing. The Emigrants was one of the few foreign language films nominated for a Best Picture Oscar but had no chance of winning against Cabaret and The Godfather.

THE EXORCIST (1973), directed by William Friedkin

Arguably the scariest psychological horror film ever made, von Sydow has the title role in this ensemble drama about a possessed girl played by Linda Blair and her exasperated mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, both of whom were nominated for Oscars, as was Jason Miller as the young priest who calls in von Sydow, whose stern, no-nonsense portrayal of the frail, elderly priest is one of his best. In an unusual set of circumstances, Oscar preferred the younger Miller, the Globes preferred von Sydow but neither would win in either contest.

PELLE THE CONQUEROR (1987, 1988 in the U.S.), directed by Bille August

Martin Anderson Nexo’s famous 1910 novel was the source of von Sydow’s most acclaimed performance and the only one thus far to earn him an Oscar nomination. Once again cast as a character escaping the harsh life of 19th century Sweden, farmer von Sydow and son Pelle emigrate to Norway where they are treated as low-life foreigners. Von Sydow’s flawed character is outwardly a failure but inwardly a hero. Twelve year-old Pelle Hvenegaard, who plays the title character, was in fact named after the character in the novel.

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (2007), directed by Julian Schnabel

The story of French fashion magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, paralyzed from head to toe, features von Sydow in another masterful performance as the protagonist’s 92 year-old father who suffers dementia. Von Sydow here is the very personification of the adage that “there are no small roles, only small actors”.

It may seem odd to see von Sydow playing a Frenchman, but von Sydow whose second wife with whom he has two young children is French and von Sydow now holds dual French and Swedish citizenship.