Early life

Max von Sydow was born Carl Adolf von Sydow in Lund, to a wealthy family. His father, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow (21 December 1879 - 4 March 1952), was an ethnologist and professor of Irish, Scandinavian, and comparative folklore at the University of Lund. Some of his ancestry is German; his family’s origin is in Pomerania, now a region mostly in Poland, formerly part of Prussia, and Sydow is a Prussian family name. The particle von means "of" and usually indicates aristocratic descent. His mother, Baroness Maria Margareta "Greta" Rappe (8 December 1892 - 25 July 1984), was a schoolteacher. Sydow was brought up as a Lutheran and later became an agnostic.

He attended Lund Cathedral School, where he learned German and English, starting at the age of nine. At school he and some friends founded an amateur theatrical company. He completed his national service before studying at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in Stockholm, where he trained between 1948 and 1951 with the likes of Lars Ekborg, Margaretha Krook and Ingrid Thulin. During his time at Dramaten, he made his screen debuts in Alf Sjöberg's films Only a Mother (Bara en mor, 1949) and Miss Julie (Fröken Julie, 1951), a screen version of Strindberg's scathing drama.

Career

In 1955, Sydow moved to Malmö, where he met his mentor, Ingmar Bergman. His first work with Bergman occurred on stage at the Malmö Municipal Theatre, and he would go on to work with Bergman on films such as The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet, 1957), Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället, 1957) and The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan, 1960). In The Seventh Seal, Sydow is the knight who plays a chess game with Death. The chess scenes and the film were international breakthroughs for actor and director alike. It was in these films that Sydow honed and perfected his craft.

Max von Sydow came to dominate the screen as he did the stage, becoming an idol of the international arthouse film scene. Critical recognition came as early as 1954 when he was awarded the Royal Foundation Culture Award. He worked profusely on both stage and screen while in Scandinavia, resisting the increasing calls from the United States to go to Hollywood. After being seen in Bergman's Academy Award-winning films and having been first choice for the title role of Dr. No, von Sydow finally went to America after agreeing to star in the film which led to much greater recognition, in the role of Jesus in George Stevens's all-star epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). As his talents were soon in demand in other American productions, von Sydow and his family relocated for some time to Los Angeles. From 1965, he became a regular on the American screen while maintaining a presence in his native Sweden. In 1969, he appeared in John Huston's The Kremlin Letter, and in 1971 gave a powerful, quiet performance in Jan Troell's acclaimed The Emigrants alongside actress Liv Ullmann. Though often typecast as a villain, he was rewarded in the United States with two Golden Globe nominations, for Hawaii in 1966 and The Exorcist in 1973.

In the mid-1970s, Sydow moved to Rome and began to appear in a number of Italian films, becoming friendly with another screen legend, Marcello Mastroianni. In the U.S., he played a memorably professional Alsatian assassin in Three Days of the Condor (1975), a role which won him the KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he appeared in Flash Gordon (1980), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Strange Brew (1983), David Lynch's Dune (1984), and Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). In 1985, he was a member of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the Danish film Pelle the Conqueror (1987), which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Sydow has since won the Australian Film Institute's Best Actor Award for his title role in Father (1989), the Guldbagge Best Director Award for his only directorial foray, Katinka (Ved vejen, 1988), based on a novel by Herman Bang, and the Best Actor Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival for The Silent Touch (Dotknięcie ręki, 1993). He received international acclaim for his performance as Nobel Prize-winning novelist Knut Hamsun in Jan Troell's biopic Hamsun. He received his third Swedish Guldbagge and his second Danish Bodil for his depiction of a character often described as his King Lear. Also in 1993, he appeared as Leland Gaunt in Needful Things. In 1996, he starred in Liv Ullmann's Private Confessions (Enskilda samtal). Back in Hollywood, he appeared in What Dreams May Come (1998).

He was acclaimed for his role as an elderly lawyer in Scott Hicks's Snow Falling on Cedars. In 2002, Sydow had one of his largest commercial successes, co-starring with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's science fiction thriller Minority Report. In 2003, he played mentor character Eyvind in the European TV adaptation of the Ring of the Nibelung saga. The show set ratings records and was released in the US as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King. In 2007, Sydow starred in the box-office hit Rush Hour 3. He followed that with Julian Schnabel's foreign film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby.

Max von Sydow appeared in Showtime's drama series The Tudors, in which he portrayed Otto, Cardinal Truchsess von Waldburg, a German-born clergyman who tries to organize the defeat of King Henry VIII. He also appeared in Martin Scorsese's 2010 film adaptation of Shutter Island and Ridley Scott's 2010 adaptation of Robin Hood, playing Robin's blind stepfather Sir Walter Loxley.

Sydow voices the character of Esbern in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was released on 11 November 2011. He narrated the initial teaser trailer for the game.

In April 2013, Max von Sydow was honored at the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) Festival in Hollywood, with screenings of two of his classic films, Three Days of the Condor and The Seventh Seal.

In March 2014, Sydow guest-starred in the animated sitcom The Simpsons, and in 2015 he had a role in the sequel Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In 2016, he is scheduled to join the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 6 as the Three-eyed Raven.

Personal life

On August 1, 1951, Max von Sydow married actress Christina Inga Britta Olin (1926-98); the couple had two sons, Clas and Henrik, who appeared with him in the film Hawaii, playing his son at different ages. He and Olin divorced on February 26, 1979.

He is currently in his second marriage, to the French filmmaker Catherine Brelet; they married on April 30, 1997 in Provence. In 2002 he became a citizen of France, at which time he had to give up his Swedish citizenship.

Von Sydow is either an agnostic or atheist.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1949	Only a Mother	Nils	Alf Sjöberg
1951	Miss Julie	Hand	Alf Sjöberg
1953	Ingen mans kvinna (sv)	Olaf	Lars-Eric Kjellgren
1956	Rätten att älska (sv)	Bergman	Mimi Pollak
1957	The Seventh Seal	Antonius Block	Ingmar Bergman
	Wild Strawberries	Henrik Åkerman	Ingmar Bergman
	Prästen i Uddarbo (sv)	Gustaf Ömark	Kenne Fant
1958	Brink of Life	Harry Andersson	Ingmar Bergman
	Rabies	Bo Stensson Svenningson	Ingmar Bergman
	The Magician	Albert Emanuel Vogler	Ingmar Bergman
1960	The Virgin Spring	Töre	Ingmar Bergman
	The Wedding Day (sv)	Anders Frost	Kenne Fant
1961	Through a Glass Darkly	Martin	Ingmar Bergman
1962	Adventures of Nils Holgersson	The Father	Kenne Fant
	The Mistress	Married Man	Vilgot Sjöman
1963	Winter Light	Jonas Persson	Ingmar Bergman
1965	4x4	Kvist	Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt, Klaus Rifbjerg, Rolf Clemens, Maunu Kurkvaara & Jan Troell	Segment: "Uppehåll i myrlandet"
	The Greatest Story Ever Told	Jesus Christ	George Stevens
	The Reward	Scott Swenson	Serge Bourguignon
1966	Hawaii	Reverend Abner Hale	George Roy Hill	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
	The Quiller Memorandum	Oktober	Michael Anderson
	Here's Your Life	Smålands-Pelle	Jan Troell
1968	Hour of the Wolf	Johan Borg	Ingmar Bergman
	Black Palm Trees (sv)	Gustav Olofsson	Lars-Magnus Lindgren
	Shame	Jan Rosenberg	Ingmar Bergman
1969	Made in Sweden	Magnus Rud	Johan Bergenstråhle
	The Passion of Anna	Andreas Winkelman	Ingmar Bergman
1970	The Kremlin Letter	Colonel Kosnov	John Huston
1971	The Night Visitor	Salem	László Benedek
	The Emigrants	Karl Oskar	Jan Troell
	The Touch	Andreas Vergerus	Ingmar Bergman
	The Apple War	Roy Lindberg	Tage Danielsson
1972	Embassy	Gorenko	Gordon Hessler
	The New Land	Karl Oskar	Jan Troell
1973	The Exorcist	Father Lankester Merrin	William Friedkin	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1974	Steppenwolf	Harry Haller	Fred Haines
1975	Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story	The Father	Hans Alfredson
	Le miroir éclate	Matthew Lawrence	Claude d'Anna
	Three Days of the Condor	G. Joubert	Sydney Pollack	KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
	The Ultimate Warrior	Baron	Robert Clouse
1976	Cuore di cane	Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazenski	Alberto Lattuada
	Illustrious Corpses	Supreme Court's President	Francesco Rosi
	Foxtrot	Larsen	Arturo Ripstein
	The Desert of the Tartars	Hortiz	Valerio Zurlini
	Voyage of the Damned	Captain Schroeder	Stuart Rosenberg
1977	Exorcist II: The Heretic	Father Lankester Merrin	John Boorman
	March or Die	François Marneau	Dick Richards
	Black Journal	Lisa Carpi	Mauro Bolognini
1978	Brass Target	Shelley	John Hough
1979	Hurricane	Dr Danielsson	Jan Troell
	Bugie bianche	Marcello Herrighe	Stefano Rolla (it)
1980	Death Watch	Gerald Mortenhoe	Bertrand Tavernier
	Flash Gordon	Ming the Merciless	Mike Hodges	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1981	Escape to Victory	Major Karl von Steiner	John Huston	aka Victory
1982	Conan the Barbarian	King Osric	John Milius
	Flight of the Eagle	Salomon August Andrée	Jan Troell	Venice Film Festival Pasinetti Cup for Best Actor
	Hit Man (fr)	Colonel O'Donnell	José Antonio de la Loma (es)	aka Jugando con la muerte
1983	Le Cercle des passions (fr)	Carlo di Vilalfratti	Claude d'Anna
	Strange Brew	Brewmeister Smith	Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas	aka The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew
	Never Say Never Again	Ernst Stavro Blofeld	Irvin Kershner	Independently produced James Bond film
1984	Dreamscape	Doctor Paul Novotny	Joseph Ruben
	Dune	Doctor Kynes	David Lynch
1985	Code Name: Emerald	Jurgen Brausch	Jonathan Sanger
	The Repenter	Spinola	Pasquale Squitieri
1986	Hannah and Her Sisters	Frederick	Woody Allen
	The Second Victory	Dr Huber	Gerald Thomas
	The Wolf at the Door	August Strindberg	Henning Carlsen	aka Oviri
	Duet for One	Dr Louis Feldman	Andrei Konchalovsky
1987	Pelle the Conqueror	Lassefar Karlsson	Bille August	Bodil Award Best Actor European Film Award for Best Actor Guldbagge Award Best Actor Robert Festival Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actor
1988	Katinka		Max von Sydow	First and only film as director Won the awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 24th Guldbagge Awards.
1989	Ghostbusters II	Vigo the Carpathian	Ivan Reitman	Voice, dubbed voice
	Red King, White Knight	Szaz	Geoff Murphy	Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie
1990	The Bachelor	Von Schleheim	Roberto Faenza
	A Violent Life	Pope Clement VII	Giacomo Battiato
	Father	Joe Mueller	John Power	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
	Awakenings	Dr Peter Ingham	Penny Marshall
1991	A Kiss Before Dying	Thor Carlsson	James Dearden
	Europa	Narrator	Lars von Trier	Voice
	Until the End of the World	Henry Farber	Wim Wenders
	The Ox	Vicar	Sven Nykvist
	The Best Intentions	Johan Åkerblom, Anna's father	Bille August
1992	The Silent Touch	Henry Kesdi	Krzysztof Zanussi	aka Dotknięcie ręki, Tokyo International Film Festival Best Actor Award
1993	Grandpa's Journey	Simon S.L. Fromm	Staffan Lamm (sv)
	Needful Things	Leland Gaunt	Fraser C. Heston	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Actor
1994	Time is Money	Joe Kaufman	Paolo Barzman	Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Best Actor
1995	Judge Dredd	Judge Fargo	Danny Cannon
1996	Hamsun	Knut Hamsun	Jan Troell	Guldbagge Award Best Actor Valladolid International Film Festival Best Actor
	Jerusalem	Vicar	Bille August
1998	What Dreams May Come	The Tracker	Vincent Ward
1999	Snow Falling on Cedars	Nels Gudmundsson	Scott Hicks
2001	Sleepless	Ulisse Moretti	Dario Argento
	Druids	Guttuart	Jacques Dorfmann (fr)
	Intacto	Samuel	Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
2002	Minority Report	Director Lamar Burgess	Steven Spielberg	Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Les amants de Mogador		Souheil Ben-Barka
2005	Heidi	Uncle Alp	Paul Marcus
2006	The Inquiry	Tiberius	Giulio Base
2007	Rush Hour 3	Reynard	Brett Ratner
	Emotional Arithmetic	Jakob Bronski	Paolo Barzman	Nominated - Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Papinou	Julian Schnabel
2009	Solomon Kane	Josiah Kane	Michael J. Bassett
	A Man and His Dog	The Commander	Francis Huster	Cameo
2010	Shutter Island	Dr Jeremiah Naehring	Martin Scorsese
	Robin Hood	Sir Walter Loxley	Ridley Scott
	The Wolfman	Man on train with silver cane (uncredited)	Joe Johnston	Even though his part was removed from the theatrical cut, there is still a credit for "Assistant to Mr. von Sydow".
2011	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close	The Renter	Stephen Daldry	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Georgia Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2012	Truth & Treason	Frank Fikeis
	Branded	Joseph Pascal	Jamie Bradshaw & Aleksandr Dulerayn
2013	Dragons 3D	Dr Alistair Conis	Marc Fafard
2015	The Letters	Father Celeste van Exem	William Riead
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Lor San Tekka	J. J. Abrams
2016	The First, the Last	The undertaker	Bouli Lanners

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Herr Sleeman kommer	The Hunter
1967	The Diary of Anne Frank	Otto Frank
1984	Samson and Delilah	Sidka
	The Soldier's Tale	The Devil (voice)	Animated film by R. O. Blechman for PBS
	Le Dernier Civil	Johann Kaspar Bäuerle	Miniseries
1985	Kojak: The Belarus File	Peter Barak
	The Last Place on Earth	Fridtjof Nansen	Miniseries
	Quo Vadis?	The Apostle Peter	Miniseries
	Christopher Columbus	King John of Portugal	Miniseries
1986	Gösta Berlings saga (sv)	Melchior Sinclaire	Miniseries
1990	Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes	Father Siemes
1993	Och ge oss skuggorna	Eugene O'Neill	Björn Melander (sv)
	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Sigmund Freud	Episode: "Vienna, November 1908"
1994	A che punto è la notte (it)	Archbishop of Turin
	Radetzkymarsch (de)	Baron Franz von Trotta und Sipolje
	Uncle Vanya	Professor Serebryakov
1995	Citizen X	Dr Alexandr Bukhanovsky	Nominated - CableACE Award for Supporting Actor in a Movie or a Miniseries
1996	Samson and Delilah	Narrator	Voice
	Private Confessions	Jacob
1997	Hostile Waters	Admiral Chernavin
	La principessa e il povero (it)	Epos
	Solomon (it)	David
2000	Nuremberg	Samuel Irving Rosenman	Miniseries
2004	Hidden Children - Escape of the Innocents (nl)	Valobra
	Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King	Eyvind
2009	The Tudors	Cardinal von Walburg	4 episodes
2014	The Simpsons	Claus Sigler	Voice
2016	Game of Thrones	The Three-Eyed Raven	Recurring character - Season 6 3 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Ghostbusters: The Video Game	Vigo the Carpathian	Voice
2011	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	Esbern	Voice

[ Source: Wikipedia ]