Max von Sydow: 1929 - 2020

Actor Max von Sydow has passed away at 90. 

Born Carl Adolf von Sydow in Sweden in 1929, he began his acting career at an early age when he and some school friends founded an amateur theatrical company. He would later study at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm before making his screen debuts in ONLY A MOTHER (1949), and MISS JULIE (1951). 

In 1955 his career and life would take a turn when he would meet his eventual mentor, director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman and Sydow would collaborate on several films, including one of his most iconic roles in THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)...as a knight who plays a chess match with Death. Other films with Bergman included WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957), and THE VIRGIN SPRING (1960). 

He quickly became an icon in the arthouse scene, and worked on stage and in film while resisting calls to come to America. After he was considered for the title role in the James Bond film DR. NO, he finally relented and agreed to star in the film that would bring him wide recognition; the role of Jesus Christ in George Stevens’ epic THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965). With his talent now in demand in Hollywood, he would appear in John Huston’s THE KREMLIN LETTER (1970), and Jan Troell’s THE EMIGRANTS (1971). 

He would land perhaps his most remembered role in 1973, when he was cast as Father Merrin in William Friedkin’s horror classic, THE EXORCIST…which would earn him a Golden Globe nomination. Throughout the 1970’s and early 1980’s, he would appear in FLASH GORDON (1980), CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982), STRANGE BREW (1983), DUNE (1984), and Woody Allen’s HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986). He would earn an Oscar nomination for his part in the Danish film PELLE THE CONQUEROR in 1987, which would go on to win Best Foreign Language Film. He would earn another Oscar nomination in 2011 for his part in EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE. 

Other notable roles came in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), the 007 film NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983), AWAKENINGS (1990), JUDGE DREDD (1995), WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (1998), MINORITY REPORT (2002), Martin Scorsese’s SHUTTER ISLAND (2010), Ridley Scott’s ROBIN HOOD (2010), THE WOLFMAN (2010), and STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015). 

He would voice Vigo in GHOSTBUSTERS II (1989), and Zeus in the Swedish version of Disney’s HERCULES (1997), He would also voice Esbern in the video game The Elder Scrolls V. He guest-starred on TV’S THE SIMPSONS in 2014, would play Sigmund Freud in THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, and would appear as the Three-eyed Raven on HBO’s GAME OF THRONES. 

*

This Blogger’s introduction to Max von Sydow came in 1980, when he appeared as the big bad villain Ming the Merciless in the 1980 cult-classic FLASH GORDON. With his booming yet elegant voice, he was well-suited to the role…and if any remake is to happen…the next Ming would have big shoes to fill. Some time later, as a wee-lad, I would see him again in THE EXORCIST, and when I wasn’t scared out of my wits, I was intimidated by the screen-presence of Sydow. In that role, he would fill the screen in a quiet way; you knew he was there even when he wasn’t speaking. It was a far cry from Ming, and it showed his range. For seven decades he maintained that presence, and most of us do not know cinema without him.