Max von Sydow was a Swedish-French actor who starred in numerous of Ingmar Bergman's films as well as many American films in his 70 year career. He appeared in eleven of Bergman's films including The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), The Magician (1958), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), Shame (1968), The Passion of Anna (1969) and The Touch (1971).
Sydow was able to transfer to American films starring as Jesus Christ in George Stevens' biblical epic film The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He later would go on to star in films such as William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), David Lynch's Dune (1984), Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990), Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002), Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010), Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (2010), and J. J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). He also had a supporting role in HBO's Game of Thrones as the Three-eyed Raven, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
He has been nominated for two Academy Awards for his performances in Bille August's Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011). At the age of 82, von Sydow was one of the oldest nominees for an Academy Award. Sydow also received two Golden Globe Awards nominations as well as two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations. In 1982 he received the Best Actor prize at the Venice International Film Festival for his performance in Flight of the Eagle. He is also the winner of 3 Guldbagge Awards and received a festival trophy from the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. He received the Royal Foundation of Sweden's Cultural Award in 1954, was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur on 17 October 2012.
Major Awards Academy Award Year Category Nominated work Result 1989 Best Actor Pelle the Conqueror 2012 Best Supporting Actor Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close At the age of 82, von Sydow was one of the oldest nominees for an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actor category (for the 2011 film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close).
Golden Globe Award Year Category Nominated work Result 1967 Best Actor – Drama Hawaii 1974 Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture The Exorcist
Guldbagge Award Year Category Nominated work Result 1987 Best Actor Pelle the Conqueror 1988 Best Director Katinka 1996 Best Actor Hamsun
Primetime Emmy Award Year Category Nominated work Result 1990 Best Supporting Actor – Limited Series or Movie Red King, White Knight 2016 Best Guest Actor – Drama Series Game of Thrones
Film festivals Year Festival Category Nominated work Result 1976Cartagena Film FestivalBest ActorThree Days of the Condor 1982 Venice Film Festival Flight of the Eagle 1992Tokyo International Film FestivalThe Silent Touch1994Karlovy Vary International Film FestivalTime is Money1996Valladolid International Film FestivalHamsun2004 Cannes Film Festival Festival Trophy 2005Capri Hollywood International Film FestivalLegend Award2006San Sebastián International Film FestivalDonostia Award2008Tallinn Black Nights Film FestivalLifetime Achievement Award2016Sitges Film FestivalHonorary Grand Prize2019Stockholm International Film FestivalLifetime Achievement Award
Critics awards Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2011 Boston Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actor Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor 2012 Georgia Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor 1975Kansas City Film Critics CircleThree Days of the Condor2017 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Career Achievement 1967National Society of Film CriticsBest ActorHawaii1989Pelle the Conqueror 2011 San Diego Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actor Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Other awards Year Award Category Nominated work Result 1990AACTA AwardBest Actor in a Leading RoleFather1988Bodil AwardBest Actor in a Leading RolePelle the Conqueror1997Hamsun1991CableACE AwardSupporting Actor in a Movie or MiniseriesRed King, White Knight1995Supporting Actor in a Movie or MiniseriesCitizen X1988European Film AwardBest ActorPelle the Conqueror1993Fangoria Chainsaw AwardBest ActorNeedful Things1962Fotogramas de PlataBest Foreign PerformerThe Seventh Seal2009Genie AwardBest Supporting ActorEmotional Arithmetic1988Robert AwardBest Actor in a Leading RolePelle the Conqueror1981Saturn AwardBest Supporting ActorFlash Gordon1994Best ActorNeedful Things2003Best Supporting ActorMinority Report2007Village Voice Film PollBest Supporting ActorThe Diving Bell and the Butterfly
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