ACTOR
Max von Sydow
- Known for
- Judge Dredd (1995), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Flash Gordon (1980), Jungfrukällan (1960)
28 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Max von Sydow is an actor best known for Judge Dredd, Three Days of the Condor and Flash Gordon.
All facts (28)
- #001
Max von Sydow was fluent in several languages, including Swedish, English, French and Italian.
- #002
He was offered the lead role in Dr. No (1962), the first James Bond film, a part that went to Joseph Wiseman.
- #003
He was one of six Swedish actors nominated for an Oscar, along with Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Ann-Margret, Lena Olin and Alicia Vikander. Von Sydow is the only Swedish male actor to have been nominated.
- #004
He appeared in 13 films directed by Ingmar Bergman: The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957), Brink of Life (1958), The Magician (1958), Rabies (1958), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), Hour of the Wolf (1968), Shame (1968), The Passion of Anna (1969) and The Touch (1971).
- #005
He was one of the few actors to have played both God (in The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1965) and the Devil (in Needful Things, 1993).
- #006
His second Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, 2011) came at the age of 82, the same age as front-runner Christopher Plummer, who was also competing for his second nomination in the category. Plummer won the Oscar for Beginners (2010) in a role von Sydow had previously turned down.
- #007
For his performance in Pelle the Conqueror (1987), he was one of the few actors nominated for an Oscar for a role in a foreign-language film.
- #008
Over his career he played both Jesus and the Devil, and he was also the lead character of the horror classic The Exorcist (1973).
- #009
He never retired from acting.
- #010
He acquired French citizenship in 2002 and had to give up his Swedish citizenship at the time.
- #011
He appeared in five films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Emigrants (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Awakenings (1990) and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011).
- #012
Max von Sydow died on 8 March 2020, a month before his 91st birthday on 10 April.
- #013
His role as Lasse Karlsson in Pelle the Conqueror (1987) ranked 57th on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
- #014
Von Sydow, who had not appeared in an Ingmar Bergman film since The Touch (1971), was reunited with the master by playing his grandfather in The Best Intentions (1991). The film was directed by Bille August from a screenplay by Ingmar Bergman. Ironically, despite all his classic work with Ingmar Bergman — the Knight in The Seventh Seal (1957), the title role in The Magician (1958) and the father in The Virgin Spring (1960) — his first Oscar nomination came for Bille August's Pelle the Conqueror (1987).
- #015
Pelle the Conqueror (1987) was one of his favourite films.
- #016
He and his The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) co-stars Donald Pleasence and Telly Savalas all later played Bond's villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld: Pleasence in You Only Live Twice (1967), Savalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and von Sydow in Never Say Never Again (1983).
- #017
He was considered for the role of William Fawcett Robinson in Somewhere in Time (1980) before Christopher Plummer was cast.
- #018
Most of his ancestors were Swedish. Both of his parents had more distant German origins, and his mother also had a distant Scottish ancestor.
- #019
He resided in Los Angeles, California, Rome, Italy and Paris, France.
- #020
Max von Sydow played the chief villain in two films: Blofeld in Never Say Never Again (1983) and Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002), the latter of which also features eye-replacement surgery used to fool security eye scanners.
- #021
Max von Sydow is a distant relative of Björn von Sydow, the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament and a former defence minister.
- #022
Max von Sydow was the first Swedish male actor to receive a Golden Globe nomination; the second was Alexander Skarsgård.
- #023
Max von Sydow is one of four Swedish actors to have been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award; the others, in chronological order, are Ingrid Bergman, Alexander Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård.
- #024
Max von Sydow was among the actors considered for the role of Dr. Hans Fallada in the 1985 horror film Lifeforce; Frank Finlay was cast instead.
- #025
Max von Sydow served as president of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1985.
- #026
Max von Sydow is the stepfather of Yvan and Cédric Brelet von Sydow, the children of Catherine Brelet from a previous marriage.
- #027
Max von Sydow is the father of Henrik von Sydow and Clas S. Von Sydow.
- #028
At 1.94 metres tall, Max von Sydow was the tallest actor ever to play Jesus.
Continue through the archive
- Flash Gordonas The Emperor Ming
- Three Days of the Condoras Joubert
- Needful Thingsas Leland Gaunt
- Exorcist II: The Hereticas Father Merrin
- Judge Dreddas Judge Fargo
- Nattvardsgästernaas Jonas Persson
- Jungfrukällanas Herr Töre i Vänge
- Kurskas Vladimir Petrenko
- Dreamscapeas Dr. Paul Novotny
- The Quiller Memorandumas Oktober
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