Max von Sydow

Swedish-French actor (1929–2020)

Fame59.9
Momentum0.3
Sweden rank#250

Source-basedFalling

Fame59.9
Momentum0.3
Sweden rank#250
Actors rank#186
Wikipedia83.7K

Lived 1929–2020, aged 91Sweden

Sweden ActorsActor

Wikipedia
67 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Sweden
#250
Actors
Era
1929–2020
Aged 91
Known for
Shutter Island
2010

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He played chess with Death in The Seventh Seal, then spent seven decades shifting effortlessly between Bergman's bleak northern parables and Hollywood's wildest swings — Jesus, a Jedi mentor, the devil himself. The range was unsettling: he could anchor existential silence or chew scenery as a Bond villain with equal conviction.

Biography

About

Carl Adolf von Sydow was born in Sweden on 10 April 1929 and built a 70-year career across more than 150 films in multiple languages. Ingmar Bergman cast him as the knight challenging Death in The Seventh Seal in 1957, a role that made him internationally visible and launched a collaboration spanning eleven films — Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, Shame, The Touch. He made his American debut playing Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965, then carved out a second life in genre pictures and prestige dramas: the priest in The Exorcist, the emper…

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