Max von Sydow (1929–2020) was a Swedish-French actor, active in both European and American cinema.
Von Sydow started his cinematic career in his native country in 1949 and two of his most memorable roles include Knight Antonius Block in The Seventh Seal (1957), the first of his eleven films with director Ingmar Bergman, and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death;[1] and as Martin in Through a Glass Darkly (1961).
Beginning in 1965, von Sydow starred in Hollywood films; his debut was as Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Other roles include as Father Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert in Three Days of the Condor (1975); Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983); Liet-Kynes in Dune (1984); Dr. Peter Ingham in Awakenings (1990); Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002) and Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Von Sydow was nominated for two Academy Awards, for his roles as Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and The Renter in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012). On television, von Sydow played the Three-eyed Raven in Game of Thrones. In 2011, he voiced Esbern in the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
- ^ Philip French, Screen Legends, The Observer, 10 February 2008 [1]