Monday, July 30, 2007
Breaking News: Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonionni Die
Been looking all through the Web and I was saddened to hear that Swedish director Ingmar Bergman has died today at the age of 89. And to add more gasoline to the fire, Italian director Michelangelo Antonionni has also died yesterday at the age of 95. According to Roger Ebert in today's tribute, Antonionni died shortly after Bergman did. Very sad. Just when society couldn't get much worse.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Remembering 1967
It is a shock to believe that the sixties are four decades old. It's memories, some bad, are keeping it fresh. Not to mention that it's been 40 years have passed of the crucial year of 1967. Not only in society, but for movies. In this posting, I share with you the best, worst, most contraversial, and forgotten classics. For me the best year in that decade of film was actually the previous year of 1966. But in 1967 everything and the old ways of film were falling apart. In the coming postings I'll take a close look at these films.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Swedish Actresses (And One Male Actor!) of the 60's
In a follow up to my previous post "Forgotten British Actresses of the 60's" I've decided on doing another one. This time we head east to the upper tier of Europe and to the country with the most blonde hair people (including men) in the world: Sweden. No surprise to cinema the country produced two great actresses: Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman. As well as a director that would put a stamp on the 60's: Ingmar Bergman. That leads us to our profiles which include:
Bibi Andersson
Ewa Aulin
Anita Ekberg
Brit Ekland
Lena Nyman
Ann-Margaret (Olsson)
Camilla Sparv
Inger Stevens
It also includes a profile of Max Von Sydow; who broke through in the decade.
Bibi Andersson
Born Elisabeth Andersson in Stockholm in 1935, Bibi Andersson studied acting at the Terserus Drama School and then at the Royal Dramatic Theater school in Stockholm. After she went to school Andersson went to the actual Royal Dramatic School; where she stayed there for 30 years. In 1951, the 16 year-old Andersson met a Swedish director named Ingmar Bergman. As the 1950's ended she was in his first two acclaimed films-The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.
Then in 1966, she played Alma-a nurse who cares Liv Ullman's character in what has been arguably Bergman's greatest film: Persona.
That opened the door to more movies that included Duel at Diablo, The Kremlin Letter, and the Robert Altman film Quintet. In 1973, she did her first play in the U.S. with "Full Circle". In 1990, she became a theater director in Stockholm. In the late-80's she continued to work along side Ingmar Bergman and in 1996, she published her autobiography "A Moment".
Andersson has been married three times and is currently married to Gabirel Mora Baeza.
Ewa Aulin
Born in Landskrona in the providence of Skane Ian on February 13, 1950 Ewa Aulin was a charming blonde, and much like what Goldie Hawn would become in America and Susan George and Judy Geeson in Britain during the era. She was named Miss Teen Sweden and cashed in by becoming an actress. She did small roles in America and Italy that included
With Heart in Mouth and Death Laid an Egg. Then in 1968, she played the title character in the adaptation of Terry Southern's notorious Candy.
It was a film that she co-stared Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, James Coburn, Walter Matthau, director John Huston, Ringo Starr, and John Astin. In 1970, she co-stared with Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland in the period comedy Start the Revolution Without Me.
Aulin appeared in more movies(Death Smiled at Murder, Blood Castle) before she stopped acting after 1973.
Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg became the decade's first sex bomb. Born Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg in 1931 in the city and area of Malmo, Skane Anita Ekberg was the sixth of eight children and the oldest girl. When she was a teen, she began modeling and in 1950, she was told by her mother to enter the Miss Malmo competition which would lead to the Miss Sweden contest. Not surprisingly, she won both awards and headed to America for the Miss Universe pageant. She didn't win but executives at Universal Pictures were there and they gave her a film contract. She then meet filmmaker/aviator Howard Hughes. He wanted to change her name but she refused because as she pointed out, if she wanted to be famous, the people had to learn how to say her last name. While at Universal, she was taught how to act. It was here that she caught the attention of director Russ Meyer who said that he never seen any woman as beautiful as her (her bust was 40D!). Ekberg became a popular pin up during the 1950's. Then she was moved to Paramount where she did the movies Artists and Models and Hollywood or Bust; which it just happened to be the last two movies with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Then she was given a small part in the John Wayne film Blood Alley with Lauren Bacall in 1955 (she would win a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer). Then the next year, she went to Rome, Italy to film the epic War and Peace with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda; while the producer and director was Dino DeLauentis and King Vidor. More film roles follow and then in 1960, Italian director Federico Fellini gave Ekberg the role of a American actress in his groundbreaking foreign film La Dolce Vita. This was the movie in which she tempts Marcello Mastroianni and then the signature moment in which she walks in the Trevi Fountain while wearing her black strapless gown. She went to do three more movies with him: Boccaccio '70 in 1962, I Clowns a decade later, and Intervista in 1987. In 1963, she co-stared again with Dean Martin, along with Frank Sinatra and Ursula Andress in the western-comedy 4 For Texas. She had been twice and that included actor Rick Van Nutter. She continues to act and has made a request to be buried in her home country even though she hasn't live there all the time since the early-1950's.
Britt Ekland
Born Brittany Marie Ekland in 1942, Britt Ekland was a stuggling actress in Sweden when she moved to England in the early-1960's. Then she began a relationship with actor-comedian Peter Sellers shortly after he got divorced. The two married in 1964. They had a daughter named Victoria and did two movies: After the Fox in 1966 and The Bobo the next year. But the relationship was a disater as Ekland found out the hard way of just how complicated Sellers' life was, and it came to a head when they divorced in 1968 and Sellers had his first heart attack after the divorce became final (both movies were flops by the way). She returned to acting in movies including The Night They Raided Minskys in 1968. In 1971, she co-stared with Michael Caine in the action film Get Carter. She played Anna, in which during one scene she gives phone sex to Caine's title character and then dubious film history occurs when Ekland masterbates with her breasts. In 1973, she co-stared in the original horror movie The Wicker Man (her voice was dubbed in English). The next year, she played the Bond Girl Mary Goodnight in the 007 film The Man With the Golden Gun. During the 1970's Ekland became the most viewed actresses in the world and it included a merry-go-round of relationships that included music producer Lou Alder; in which she had a son named Nicholas in 1973 but never married. In 1975, she met singer Rod Stewart after her friend-actress Joan Collins introduced him. She did the background vocals to his 1976 hit song "Tonight's the Night" and yet, they broke up the next year. Then more relationships followed that included Simon Turner, John Waite, and Les McKeown. As the 80's dawned Ekland continue to go to men like chewing gum. It included being engaged to rocker Phil Lewis before they broke up in 1981 then married and divorced another rocker-Slim Jim Phantom in which they had a son named Tom. In 1980, she published her autobiography "True Britt" and in 1984, she followed in Jane Fonda's footsteps by writing a fitness book. In recent years, Ekland has become friends to Ozzy Osborne and his wife/manager Sharon and also has continued to do stage work in England.
Lena Nyman
Born in 1944 Lena Nyman, like Ewa Aulin was another young Swedish actress with striking looks. She begin acting in Swedish films when she was just 11. In 1964, new Swedish director Vilgot Sjoman gave the 20 year-old actress a role in his movie 491. Impressed by how it went, Sjoman wrote her a role for his next movie that would become the cinema outrage of the decade: I Am Curious (Yellow) in 1967. She plays Anna-a Swede girl who realizes that the country and the world is falling apart and she loves her boyfriend Borje (Borje Ahlstedt) so much, they experiement having sex (where the outrage comes in since the director shows them nude with their private parts, as well as intercourse and brief oral sex). It would be followed by I Am Curious (Blue) the next year. Then in the 1970's she did a number of plays in Sweden for Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson. In 1978, she co-stared with Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann in Autumn Sonata-directed by Ingmar Bergman.
Ann-Margaret
Born Ann Margaret Olsson in 1941 in the town of Valsjobyn, Jamtland Ann-Margaret was by far the best actress to ever come out of the country during the 60's. She grew up in an area of lumberjacks and farmers. When she was a toddler, the Olssons moved to America and then peramnently in 1946 since her family had a job to work in the U.S. The family moved to a suburb in Chicago when Margaret became a U.S. citizen at the age of eight. She briefly took classes at Northwestern Universary before she wanted to go into show bizness. Her big break came when she appeared on "Ted Mack's Original Amatuar Hour" in 1960. Then she appeared on Jack Benny's TV show the next year and opened with George Burns in Las Vegas. That same year she appeared in her first film Pockful of Miracles; which turned out to be Frank Capra's last film as director. In 1962, she co-stared with Bobby Darin and Pat Boone in the remake of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. Then she became a huge star when she appeared in the musical Bye Bye Birdle. And in 1964, she co-stared with Elvis Presley in the musical Viva Las Vegas. A serious relationship followed before they broke up and it was because "The King" feared that had he married her they would fight over who had the bigger ego. More movie roles followed including Kitten With a Whip in 1964, The Cincinnati Kid the next year, Stagecoach and Murderer's Row in 1966 (she even was animated on "The Flintstones" as Ann-Margrock in 1963). The defining A.M. moment occurred in The Swinger that same year in which she rolled around in paint! The next year, she married actor Roger Smith (and after 40 years they're still married!) and that same year, she did her first concert show in Las Vegas. Her film career began to dry up a bit as the 60's ended but in 1971 she came back in a big way when she co-stared in the drama Carnal Knowledge. She received her first Oscar nomination but the next year, she was in Lake Tahoe, NV when she got into a nasty accident in which she fell 22 feet from the stage and was badly injured. Eventually, she recovered and continue to perform. In 1975, she reteamed with Carnal Knowledge co-star Jack Nicholson for the Rock opera Tommy directed by Ken Russell. She was nominated again for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a musical/comedy. In 1994, she published her autobiography "Ann Margret: My Story" and recently, she did the movie Mem-o-re with Billy Zane and Dennis Hopper.
Camilla Sparv
Born in Stockholm in 1943 Camilla Sparv was a stunning blonde who went to Hollywood in the 1960's. She was then sign to Columbia and not to mention, married producer Robert Evans that became a big bust. In 1966, she made her first film by co-starring with Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens in the comedy The Trouble With Angels. That same year she played French femme fatale Coco Duquette in the Matt Helm film Murderer's Row with Dean Martin and then co-stared with James Coburn in Columbia's black comedy Dead Heat On a Merry-Go-Round. In 1968, she co-stared in Assignment K and The High Commissioner. The next year she was in MacKenna's Gold with Gregory Peck and Downhill Racer with Robert Redford before she went back to Sweden. In the mid-70's she returned to acting and onto a bunch of TV roles including the televison remake of "Valley of the Dolls" (which also had James Coburn).
Inger Stevens
Born Inger Stensland in 1934 and also in Stockholm, Inger Stevens was a talented actress. But her life was filled with trouble from the beginning as she was ill many times as a child and her parents divorced and she moved to the U.S. with her father when she was child. She went to high school in Manhattan, Kansas before going to New York (the other Manhattan) where she worked as a cabaret dancer. Then Stevens began to work in commericals, plays, and TV before she got her first movie role with Bing Crosby Man On Fire. More movie roles followed and in 1961, she stared in the TV sitcom "The Farmer's Daughter" where it stayed on until 1966. Stevens turned this into more bigger movie roles that included A Guide For the Married Man with Walter Matthau in 1967, Madigan with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark in 1968, and the westerns Five Card Stud, Firecreek (again with Fonda), and Hang 'Em High that same year. Then in April 1970, the unthinkable happened: Inger Stevens was found dead in her bad after overdosing on sleeping pills. It came around the time she was dating actor Burt Reynolds (it was one of many bricks in a wall for his unreal life). Just like say Carol White, she bascially faded away.
Bonus Profile: Max von Sydow
Born Max Carl Adolf von Sydow in Lund, Skane in 1929 Max von Sydow was raised to a tidy family. He went to Catholic school in Lund as a child and before he was twenty, Sydow went to The Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm start acting. Then he began his film career in small roles in 1949. Two years later, he married actress Kerstin Olin. Then in 1955, Von Sydow moved to Malmo where he meet director Ingmar Bergman. His first role with him would take place on stage at the Malmo Municipal Theatre. Then he appeared in his movies The Seventh Seal in 1957, Wild Strawberries the same year and The Virgin Spring in 1960. It was with these roles that set the pattern for his film career. Then in the mid-60's Von Sydow made the crossover to Hollywood and in 1965, he played Jesus in director George Stevens' mammath epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (he later played the Devil in the adaptation of the Stephen King novel Needful Things). He then moved to Los Angeles with his family and the next year, he played a preacher alongside Julie Andrews in another epic: Hawaii. That same year, he played the villain Oktober in the Cold War drama The Quiller Memorandum. More movie roles followed in America and Sweden. Then in 1973, he played the title character in the movie The Exorcist-one of the greatest horror movies of all time and one of the best movies of the 70's. He would play it again in the sequal Exorcist II-The Herotic. The 80's saw him in the sci-fi movie Dune in 1984, the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters in 1986, and even in the SCTV comedy Strange Brew with Rick Morantis and Dave Thomas. In 1996, he divorced from his wife Kerstin and later married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet (they have two sons). That same year, he stared in the play written by Bergman alumn Liv Ullmann "Private Confessions". He continues to act today.
Well, that is it. I will stop here.
Bibi Andersson
Ewa Aulin
Anita Ekberg
Brit Ekland
Lena Nyman
Ann-Margaret (Olsson)
Camilla Sparv
Inger Stevens
It also includes a profile of Max Von Sydow; who broke through in the decade.
Bibi Andersson
Born Elisabeth Andersson in Stockholm in 1935, Bibi Andersson studied acting at the Terserus Drama School and then at the Royal Dramatic Theater school in Stockholm. After she went to school Andersson went to the actual Royal Dramatic School; where she stayed there for 30 years. In 1951, the 16 year-old Andersson met a Swedish director named Ingmar Bergman. As the 1950's ended she was in his first two acclaimed films-The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.
Then in 1966, she played Alma-a nurse who cares Liv Ullman's character in what has been arguably Bergman's greatest film: Persona.
That opened the door to more movies that included Duel at Diablo, The Kremlin Letter, and the Robert Altman film Quintet. In 1973, she did her first play in the U.S. with "Full Circle". In 1990, she became a theater director in Stockholm. In the late-80's she continued to work along side Ingmar Bergman and in 1996, she published her autobiography "A Moment".
Andersson has been married three times and is currently married to Gabirel Mora Baeza.
Ewa Aulin
Born in Landskrona in the providence of Skane Ian on February 13, 1950 Ewa Aulin was a charming blonde, and much like what Goldie Hawn would become in America and Susan George and Judy Geeson in Britain during the era. She was named Miss Teen Sweden and cashed in by becoming an actress. She did small roles in America and Italy that included
With Heart in Mouth and Death Laid an Egg. Then in 1968, she played the title character in the adaptation of Terry Southern's notorious Candy.
It was a film that she co-stared Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, James Coburn, Walter Matthau, director John Huston, Ringo Starr, and John Astin. In 1970, she co-stared with Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland in the period comedy Start the Revolution Without Me.
Aulin appeared in more movies(Death Smiled at Murder, Blood Castle) before she stopped acting after 1973.
Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg became the decade's first sex bomb. Born Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg in 1931 in the city and area of Malmo, Skane Anita Ekberg was the sixth of eight children and the oldest girl. When she was a teen, she began modeling and in 1950, she was told by her mother to enter the Miss Malmo competition which would lead to the Miss Sweden contest. Not surprisingly, she won both awards and headed to America for the Miss Universe pageant. She didn't win but executives at Universal Pictures were there and they gave her a film contract. She then meet filmmaker/aviator Howard Hughes. He wanted to change her name but she refused because as she pointed out, if she wanted to be famous, the people had to learn how to say her last name. While at Universal, she was taught how to act. It was here that she caught the attention of director Russ Meyer who said that he never seen any woman as beautiful as her (her bust was 40D!). Ekberg became a popular pin up during the 1950's. Then she was moved to Paramount where she did the movies Artists and Models and Hollywood or Bust; which it just happened to be the last two movies with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Then she was given a small part in the John Wayne film Blood Alley with Lauren Bacall in 1955 (she would win a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer). Then the next year, she went to Rome, Italy to film the epic War and Peace with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda; while the producer and director was Dino DeLauentis and King Vidor. More film roles follow and then in 1960, Italian director Federico Fellini gave Ekberg the role of a American actress in his groundbreaking foreign film La Dolce Vita. This was the movie in which she tempts Marcello Mastroianni and then the signature moment in which she walks in the Trevi Fountain while wearing her black strapless gown. She went to do three more movies with him: Boccaccio '70 in 1962, I Clowns a decade later, and Intervista in 1987. In 1963, she co-stared again with Dean Martin, along with Frank Sinatra and Ursula Andress in the western-comedy 4 For Texas. She had been twice and that included actor Rick Van Nutter. She continues to act and has made a request to be buried in her home country even though she hasn't live there all the time since the early-1950's.
Britt Ekland
Born Brittany Marie Ekland in 1942, Britt Ekland was a stuggling actress in Sweden when she moved to England in the early-1960's. Then she began a relationship with actor-comedian Peter Sellers shortly after he got divorced. The two married in 1964. They had a daughter named Victoria and did two movies: After the Fox in 1966 and The Bobo the next year. But the relationship was a disater as Ekland found out the hard way of just how complicated Sellers' life was, and it came to a head when they divorced in 1968 and Sellers had his first heart attack after the divorce became final (both movies were flops by the way). She returned to acting in movies including The Night They Raided Minskys in 1968. In 1971, she co-stared with Michael Caine in the action film Get Carter. She played Anna, in which during one scene she gives phone sex to Caine's title character and then dubious film history occurs when Ekland masterbates with her breasts. In 1973, she co-stared in the original horror movie The Wicker Man (her voice was dubbed in English). The next year, she played the Bond Girl Mary Goodnight in the 007 film The Man With the Golden Gun. During the 1970's Ekland became the most viewed actresses in the world and it included a merry-go-round of relationships that included music producer Lou Alder; in which she had a son named Nicholas in 1973 but never married. In 1975, she met singer Rod Stewart after her friend-actress Joan Collins introduced him. She did the background vocals to his 1976 hit song "Tonight's the Night" and yet, they broke up the next year. Then more relationships followed that included Simon Turner, John Waite, and Les McKeown. As the 80's dawned Ekland continue to go to men like chewing gum. It included being engaged to rocker Phil Lewis before they broke up in 1981 then married and divorced another rocker-Slim Jim Phantom in which they had a son named Tom. In 1980, she published her autobiography "True Britt" and in 1984, she followed in Jane Fonda's footsteps by writing a fitness book. In recent years, Ekland has become friends to Ozzy Osborne and his wife/manager Sharon and also has continued to do stage work in England.
Lena Nyman
Born in 1944 Lena Nyman, like Ewa Aulin was another young Swedish actress with striking looks. She begin acting in Swedish films when she was just 11. In 1964, new Swedish director Vilgot Sjoman gave the 20 year-old actress a role in his movie 491. Impressed by how it went, Sjoman wrote her a role for his next movie that would become the cinema outrage of the decade: I Am Curious (Yellow) in 1967. She plays Anna-a Swede girl who realizes that the country and the world is falling apart and she loves her boyfriend Borje (Borje Ahlstedt) so much, they experiement having sex (where the outrage comes in since the director shows them nude with their private parts, as well as intercourse and brief oral sex). It would be followed by I Am Curious (Blue) the next year. Then in the 1970's she did a number of plays in Sweden for Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson. In 1978, she co-stared with Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann in Autumn Sonata-directed by Ingmar Bergman.
Ann-Margaret
Born Ann Margaret Olsson in 1941 in the town of Valsjobyn, Jamtland Ann-Margaret was by far the best actress to ever come out of the country during the 60's. She grew up in an area of lumberjacks and farmers. When she was a toddler, the Olssons moved to America and then peramnently in 1946 since her family had a job to work in the U.S. The family moved to a suburb in Chicago when Margaret became a U.S. citizen at the age of eight. She briefly took classes at Northwestern Universary before she wanted to go into show bizness. Her big break came when she appeared on "Ted Mack's Original Amatuar Hour" in 1960. Then she appeared on Jack Benny's TV show the next year and opened with George Burns in Las Vegas. That same year she appeared in her first film Pockful of Miracles; which turned out to be Frank Capra's last film as director. In 1962, she co-stared with Bobby Darin and Pat Boone in the remake of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. Then she became a huge star when she appeared in the musical Bye Bye Birdle. And in 1964, she co-stared with Elvis Presley in the musical Viva Las Vegas. A serious relationship followed before they broke up and it was because "The King" feared that had he married her they would fight over who had the bigger ego. More movie roles followed including Kitten With a Whip in 1964, The Cincinnati Kid the next year, Stagecoach and Murderer's Row in 1966 (she even was animated on "The Flintstones" as Ann-Margrock in 1963). The defining A.M. moment occurred in The Swinger that same year in which she rolled around in paint! The next year, she married actor Roger Smith (and after 40 years they're still married!) and that same year, she did her first concert show in Las Vegas. Her film career began to dry up a bit as the 60's ended but in 1971 she came back in a big way when she co-stared in the drama Carnal Knowledge. She received her first Oscar nomination but the next year, she was in Lake Tahoe, NV when she got into a nasty accident in which she fell 22 feet from the stage and was badly injured. Eventually, she recovered and continue to perform. In 1975, she reteamed with Carnal Knowledge co-star Jack Nicholson for the Rock opera Tommy directed by Ken Russell. She was nominated again for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a musical/comedy. In 1994, she published her autobiography "Ann Margret: My Story" and recently, she did the movie Mem-o-re with Billy Zane and Dennis Hopper.
Camilla Sparv
Born in Stockholm in 1943 Camilla Sparv was a stunning blonde who went to Hollywood in the 1960's. She was then sign to Columbia and not to mention, married producer Robert Evans that became a big bust. In 1966, she made her first film by co-starring with Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens in the comedy The Trouble With Angels. That same year she played French femme fatale Coco Duquette in the Matt Helm film Murderer's Row with Dean Martin and then co-stared with James Coburn in Columbia's black comedy Dead Heat On a Merry-Go-Round. In 1968, she co-stared in Assignment K and The High Commissioner. The next year she was in MacKenna's Gold with Gregory Peck and Downhill Racer with Robert Redford before she went back to Sweden. In the mid-70's she returned to acting and onto a bunch of TV roles including the televison remake of "Valley of the Dolls" (which also had James Coburn).
Inger Stevens
Born Inger Stensland in 1934 and also in Stockholm, Inger Stevens was a talented actress. But her life was filled with trouble from the beginning as she was ill many times as a child and her parents divorced and she moved to the U.S. with her father when she was child. She went to high school in Manhattan, Kansas before going to New York (the other Manhattan) where she worked as a cabaret dancer. Then Stevens began to work in commericals, plays, and TV before she got her first movie role with Bing Crosby Man On Fire. More movie roles followed and in 1961, she stared in the TV sitcom "The Farmer's Daughter" where it stayed on until 1966. Stevens turned this into more bigger movie roles that included A Guide For the Married Man with Walter Matthau in 1967, Madigan with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark in 1968, and the westerns Five Card Stud, Firecreek (again with Fonda), and Hang 'Em High that same year. Then in April 1970, the unthinkable happened: Inger Stevens was found dead in her bad after overdosing on sleeping pills. It came around the time she was dating actor Burt Reynolds (it was one of many bricks in a wall for his unreal life). Just like say Carol White, she bascially faded away.
Bonus Profile: Max von Sydow
Born Max Carl Adolf von Sydow in Lund, Skane in 1929 Max von Sydow was raised to a tidy family. He went to Catholic school in Lund as a child and before he was twenty, Sydow went to The Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm start acting. Then he began his film career in small roles in 1949. Two years later, he married actress Kerstin Olin. Then in 1955, Von Sydow moved to Malmo where he meet director Ingmar Bergman. His first role with him would take place on stage at the Malmo Municipal Theatre. Then he appeared in his movies The Seventh Seal in 1957, Wild Strawberries the same year and The Virgin Spring in 1960. It was with these roles that set the pattern for his film career. Then in the mid-60's Von Sydow made the crossover to Hollywood and in 1965, he played Jesus in director George Stevens' mammath epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (he later played the Devil in the adaptation of the Stephen King novel Needful Things). He then moved to Los Angeles with his family and the next year, he played a preacher alongside Julie Andrews in another epic: Hawaii. That same year, he played the villain Oktober in the Cold War drama The Quiller Memorandum. More movie roles followed in America and Sweden. Then in 1973, he played the title character in the movie The Exorcist-one of the greatest horror movies of all time and one of the best movies of the 70's. He would play it again in the sequal Exorcist II-The Herotic. The 80's saw him in the sci-fi movie Dune in 1984, the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters in 1986, and even in the SCTV comedy Strange Brew with Rick Morantis and Dave Thomas. In 1996, he divorced from his wife Kerstin and later married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet (they have two sons). That same year, he stared in the play written by Bergman alumn Liv Ullmann "Private Confessions". He continues to act today.
Well, that is it. I will stop here.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Westerns of the 60's: McClintock!
By the early 1960's John Wayne had been in almost 150 movies (most of them were cheap westerns). But after when his 1960 western-comedy North to Alaska was a hit, "The Duke" was looking for a movie that could capitalize its success. With help from his oldest son Michael, Wayne wanted to make a western-comedy based on the William Shakespere play "The Taming of the Shrew". The result would turn out to be McClintock! I really enjoyed it. Best thing about it was the antics that Maureen O'Hara gets into.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Good News
Well, I am happy to tell you that after three weeks I am returning to write more blogs. I will begin tomorrow, so tell your friends.
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