Von Sydow, who made more than a hundred films in his acting career, which he started at the age of twenty, gained his first big success on the big screen with The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet, 1957), one of the master director Ingmar Bergman's masterpieces.
Max von Sydow was born on April 10, 1929, in Lund, Sweden. His father is Carl Wilhelm von Sydow and his mother is Baroness Maria Margareta Rappe. His full name is Max Carl Adolf von Sydow. While in high school, he became a member of a drama club. After completing his military service, he studied at the acting school of the Royal Dramatic Theater between 1948 and 1951.
Max von Sydow graduated and worked in Malmö city theaters. After starting to work in cinema, he acted especially in the films of Swedish director İngmar Bergman (13 films).
Max von Sydow (born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television series in multiple languages. Capable in roles ranging from stolid, contemplative protagonists to sardonic artists and menacing, often gleeful villains, von Sydow received numerous accolades including honors from the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. He was nominated for two Academy Awards: for Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and for Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
In 1973, he played the role of a priest in the first "The Exorcist" movie by the famous Director William Friedkin. In 1975, he shared the leading role with Yul Brynner in the movie "The Ultimate Warrior".
In 1975, he starred with Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, John Houseman, and Addison Powell in the movie Three Days of the Condor, directed by Sydney Pollack, and successfully portrayed the villain character.
In 1981, he starred with Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone in the movie Escape to Victory, directed by John Huston. In this movie, where football legend Pele played the role of Corporal Luis Fernandez, Max von Sydow played the character of Major Karl von Steiner.
In 1982, he starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie "Conan the Barbarian", where he played the character of King Osric.
In 1983, Sean Connery starred alongside Kim Basinger and Barbara Carrera in Never Say Never Again, the last movie in which Sean Connery played James Bond.
In 1986, he appeared in the movie Hannah And Her Sister, one of Woody Allen's important films, with important names such as Michael Caine, Woody Allen, and Mia Farrow, and once again proved his success in acting.
He became a French citizen in 2002.
In 2016, he appeared as the Three-Eyed Raven in the 6th Season of the TV series "Game of Thrones", starring actors such as Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance, Nikolaj Coster Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Sibel Kekilli.
Marriages
On August 1, 1951, he married actress Kersten Olin and they had two sons. Their children's names are Claes and Henrik. Their two children starred in the movie Hawaii with their father. Sydow divorced his wife Olin in 1996, and later married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet in 1997. He had two more children from this marriage, Yves and Cedric.
Notes on his films
Sydow had his first big success on the screen with The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet, 1957), one of the master director Ingmar Bergman's masterpieces. The scene in which the knight Antony plays chess with Azrael is undoubtedly one of the unforgettable moments in the history of cinema. von Sydow, who continued to work with Bergman after The Seventh Seal, worked on many of the director's important works, such as Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället, 1957), Young Girl's Spring (Jungfrukällan, 1960), Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna, 1963) and Shame (Skammen, 1968). He starred in the movie. The master actor, who had the dull face and cold appearance that Bergman requested from him, was known for impressively reflecting the painful inner worlds of the characters. Von Sydow described his relationship with Bergman and this period of his career with the following sentences: “First of all, we are friends with him. We had collaborations both on the theater stage and in films, and we did all this while we were still very young. I wasn't that well-known back then. This allowed us to act more freely. We worked with him many times and always had great fun. "I can't say exactly what Bergman's influence was on my life, but it must have been important." Max von Sydow also stated that rejecting the Swedish director's offer to star in Fanny and Alexander (1982), shot in 1982, was the biggest regret of his career.
Seventh Seal
Max von Sydow, who attracted attention with his roles in European cinema in the 1950s and 60s, starred in the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told, directed by American director George Stevens. He revived Jesus. The star actor, who moved to Hollywood with this film, appeared before the audience in the role of a priest in William Friedkin's The Exorcist in 1973, and once again managed to take part in one of the most unforgettable scenes in cinema history. Von Sydow, who played the villain in Sydney Pollack's 1975 political thriller Three Days of the Condor, then accompanied stars of the period such as Faye Dunaway and Oskar Werner in Stuart Rosenberg's Voyage of the Damned (1976). In 1981, he starred with Sean Connery in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again. In the same year, he starred in the World War II drama Escape to Victory (Victory, 1981) alongside popular actors of the period, Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone, playing Nazi officer Karl von Steiner. von Sydow continued to work with leading directors of world cinema throughout the 80s, starring in David Lynch's Dune (1984), Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Bille August's Palme d'Or-winning Fatih Pelle (1986). Pelle Erobreren, 1987). Von Sydow, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Lassefar in this last film, starred in Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World (Bis ans Ende der Welt) in 1991, and in 2002, this time with Steven Spielberg. came together and starred in Minority Report. In 2011, he was nominated for an Oscar, this time in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his role in Stephen Daldry's September 11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. One of the last films that Von Sydow starred in was 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
In addition to his magnificent seventy-year cinema career, Max von Sydow, who also appeared in popular TV series such as The Tudors (2007-2010) and Game of Thrones (2011-2019) in the 2000s, brought to the attention of young generation audiences with his character as the Three-Eyed Raven in Game of Thrones. It turned into a familiar name. Max von Sydow, who draws attention with his impressive voice as well as his acting, contributed his voice to Lars von Trier's 1991 film Europa and voiced the video game 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' in 2011.
Max von Sydow, who took part in films that have a very important place in the history of cinema, worked with countless master directors and was etched in memories with his unforgettable performances in these films, passed away, leaving behind a magnificent career that no one else can easily achieve.