Biography
Standing over six feet-four inches tall, the bony Swedish actor Max von Sydow spent much of his acting career portraying stern, oppressive characters. Born to a family of academics in Lund, Sweden, von Sydow studied at the Royal Dramatic School in Stockholm, where he made his screen debut in Only a Mother and married his first wife, actress Christina Olin. In 1956, he moved to Malmö and met director
Ingmar Bergman at the Malmo Municipal Theatre. After starring in
The Seventh Seal, von Sydow went on to star in more than a dozen films with Bergman, including
Wild Strawberries,
Virgin Spring,
Through a Glass Darkly, and
Winter Light. He worked almost exclusively with Bergman's acting company until 1965, when he took the role as Jesus in
George Stevens' epic
The Greatest Story Ever Told. This part opened the door to American films, where he was often typecast in strong, humorless roles, like the rigid missionary Abner Hale in
Hawaii. In the '70s, he went back to Sweden to work with Bergman in four more films and appeared opposite frequent co-star
Liv Ullmann in
Jan Troell's two-part saga
The Emigrants and The New Land. It wasn't until 1973 that he made his first big Hollywood blockbuster with the role of Father Merrin
The Exorcist, which he reprised in Exorcist II: The Heretic. Moving to Rome in the '80s, von Sydow had a fun role as Ming the Merciless in
Flash Gordon, played
Barbara Hershey's intense artist boyfriend in
Hannah and Her Sisters, and received his first Oscar nomination and numerous other awards for his work in
Pelle the Conqueror (1988). After making his directorial debut with
Katinka, he worked in several theater projects and a couple of biblical TV miniseries (Sampson & Delilah and
Quo Vadis). It was during this time that he was cast as the devil in the
Stephen King film adaptation
Needful Things, marking von Sydow as the only actor to play both God and Satan. He also appeared in
Judge Dredd and
Wim Wenders'
Until the End of the World. He continued acting sporadically in Hollywood for
What Dreams May Come and
Snow Falling on Cedars. Moving on to the international circuit, he appeared in
Intacto (Spain), Vercingetorix (France), and Non ho Sonno (Italy). In 2002, he co-starred with
Tom Cruise for the
Steven Spielberg blockbuster
Minority Report. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide