Mai Zetterling

Mai Elisabeth Zetterling (; 24 May 1925 – 17 March 1994) was a Swedish film director, novelist and actress.

Early life Zetterling was born in Västerås, Sweden to a working class family. She started her career as an actor at the age of 17 at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the Swedish national theatre, appearing in war-era films.

Career Zetterling appeared in film and television productions spanning six decades from the 1940s to the 1990s. Her breakthrough as an actress came in the 1944 film Torment written for her by Ingmar Bergman, in which she played a controversial role as a tormented shopgirl. Shortly afterwards, she moved to England and gained instant success there with her title role in Basil Dearden's Frieda (1947), playing opposite David Farrar.

After a brief return to Sweden, in which she worked with Bergman again in his film Music in Darkness (1948), she returned to Britain and starred in a number of UK films. Some of her notable films as an actress include Quartet (1948), a film based on some of W. Somerset Maugham's short stories, The Romantic Age (1949) directed by Edmond T. Gréville, Only Two Can Play (1962) co-starring Peter Sellers and directed by Sidney Gilliat, and The Witches (1990), an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book directed by Nicolas Roeg. Having gained a reputation as a sex symbol in dramas and thrillers, she was equally effective in comedies, and was active in British television in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1960, she appeared in Danger Man as Nadia in the episode "The Sisters".

She began directing and publishing novels and non-fiction in the early 1960s, her films starting with political documentaries and a short film titled The War Game (1963), which was nominated for a BAFTA award, and won a Silver Lion at Venice, both for the Best Short Film. Her directorial feature film debut Älskande par (1964, "Loving Couples"), based on the novels of Agnes von Krusenstjerna, caused a scandal at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival for its sexual explicitness and nudity. Kenneth Tynan of The Observer later called it "one of the most ambitious debuts since Citizen Kane". It was not the only film she made that caused controversy for its frank sexuality.

When critics reviewing her debut feature stated that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man", she began to explore feminist themes more explicitly in her work. The Girls, which had an all-star Swedish cast that included Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, discussed women's liberation (or lack thereof) in a society controlled by men, as the protagonists compare their lives to characters in the play Lysistrata, and find that things have not progressed very much for women since ancient times. In 1966, she appeared as a storyteller on the BBC children's programme Jackanory, and in five episodes narrated Tove Jansson's Finn Family Moomintroll.

She is perhaps most famously known as Luke's Grandmother in the 1990 film 'The Witches' which was one of her final lead roles before her death in 1994.

Personal life Zetterling was married to Norwegian actor Tutte Lemkow from 1944 to 1953. They had a daughter, Etienne and a son, Louis, who is professor of environmental sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She published an autobiography, All Those Tomorrows. New York: Grove, 1986. From 1958 to 1979, she was married to British author David Hughes, who collaborated with her on her first films as director.

Documents at the National Archives in London show that, as she lived in a communal house, she was watched by MI5 as a suspected Communist. This coincided with the McCarthyite purges in Hollywood. However, it did not hamper her career.

Death On 17 March 1994, a year after her final role on television, Zetterling died of cancer at her home in London. She was 68 years old.

Filmography As Director YearTitleNotes1990Love at First Sight"Sunday Pursuit"1990Chillers"The Stuff of Madness"1989Crossbow"The Children," The Wind Wagon," and "Forbidden Land"1986BetongmormorShort film1986Amorosa1985The Hitchhiker"And If We Dream," "Hired Help," and "Murderous Feelings"1983Scrubbers1982Lovesegments "Love From the Market Place," "The Black Cat in the Black Mouse Socks," and "Julia"1977The Moon Is a Green Cheese1976We Have Many Names1973Visions of Eight1972Vincent the Dutchman1968The Girls (Flickorna)1968Doctor Glas1966Night Games (Nattlek)1964Loving Couples (Älskande par)1963The War GameShort film1961Lords of Little Egypt

As Actor +YearTitleNotes1993Grandpa's Journey1990The Witches1990Hidden Agenda1965The Vine Bridge1963The Man Who Finally Died1963Operation Mermaid1962The Main Attraction1962Only Two Can Play1961Offbeat1960Piccadilly Third Stop1960Faces in the Dark1959Jet Storm1958Playing on the Rainbow1958The Master Builder1957The Truth About Women1957Seven Waves Away (Alternate Tiles Abandon Ship! and Seven Days From Now)1956A Doll's House1955A Prize of Gold1954Knock on Wood1954Dance Little Lady1953Desperate Moment1952The Tall Headlines1952The Ringer1951Hell Is Sold Out1951Blackmailed1949The Lost People1949The Bad Lord Byron1949The Romantic Age1948Quartet1948Portrait from Life1948Music in Darkness1948Life Starts Now1947Frieda1946Iris and the Lieutenant1946Sunshine Follows Rain1944Torment1944Prince Gustaf1943I Killed1941Lasse-Maja

Works

References

Mai Zetterling

Bron en licentie