Max von Sydow
Acting • Born 1929-04-10 – Died 2020-03-08
Biography
Max von Sydow (born Carl Adolf von Sydow; April 10, 1929 – March 8, 2020) was a Swedish actor. He also held French citizenship since 2002. He starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more. He performed in films filmed in many languages, including Swedish, Norwegian, English, Italian, German, Danish, French and Spanish. Some of his most memorable film roles include knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic shot of his career in the scene where he plays chess with Death), Jesus in George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told, Father Merrin in Friedkin's The Exorcist, Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor, and Ming the Merciless in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award - Best Leading Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988) and Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
Filmography
187 credits
Minority Report
Movie • 2002
Director Lamar Burgess
The Seventh Seal
Movie • 1957
Antonius Block
Wild Strawberries
Movie • 1957
Åkerman
Hostile Waters
Movie • 1997
Admiral Chernavin
Snow Falling on Cedars
Movie • 1999
Nels Gudmundsson
Dune
Movie • 1984
Doctor Kynes
Max von Sydow
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Movie • 1965
Jesus
Until the End of the World
Movie • 1991
Henry Farber
Needful Things
Movie • 1993
Leland Gaunt
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Movie • 2007
Papinou
Flash Gordon
Movie • 1980
The Emperor Ming
Intacto
Movie • 2001
Samuel
Awakenings
Movie • 1990
Peter Ingham
Pelle the Conqueror
Movie • 1987
Lasse Karlsson - Farmhand
Ring of the Nibelungs
Movie • 2004
Eyvind
Robin Hood
Movie • 2010
Sir Walter Loxley
Hannah and Her Sisters
Movie • 1986
Frederick
Rush Hour 3
Movie • 2007
Varden Reynard
Shutter Island
Movie • 2010
Dr. Naehring
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Movie • 1977
Father Lankester Merrin
Dance Around the Guldbaggen
Movie • 1964
Self
Through a Glass Darkly
Movie • 1961
Martin
Dreamscape
Movie • 1984
Paul Novotny
A Look at Liv
Movie • 1979
Self
The Virgin Spring
Movie • 1960
Töre
The Final Inquiry
Movie • 2007
Tiberius
Three Days of the Condor
Movie • 1975
G. Joubert
A Kiss Before Dying
Movie • 1991
Thor Carlsson
The Ultimate Warrior
Movie • 1975
Baron
What Dreams May Come
Movie • 1998
The Tracker
March or Die
Movie • 1977
François Marneau
Citizen X
Movie • 1995
Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky
Europa
Movie • 1991
Narrator (voice)
Judge Dredd
Movie • 1995
Chief Justice Fargo
Shame
Movie • 1968
Jan Rosenberg
The Exorcist
Movie • 1973
Father Lankester Merrin
Druids
Movie • 2001
Guttuart
Strange Brew
Movie • 1983
Brewmeister Smith
Conan the Barbarian
Movie • 1982
King Osric
Solomon Kane
Movie • 2009
Josiah Kane
Emotional Arithmetic
Movie • 2008
Jakob Bronski
The Emigrants
Movie • 1971
Karl Oskar
A Man and His Dog
Movie • 2009
Le commandant
The Best Intentions
Movie • 1992
Johan Åkerblom
The Magician
Movie • 1958
Albert Emanuel Vogler
Winter Light
Movie • 1963
Jonas Persson
Never Say Never Again
Movie • 1983
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Tuschinski's Dream
Movie • 2017
The New Land
Movie • 1972
Karl Oskar
The Passion of Anna
Movie • 1969
Andreas Winkelman
Hawaii
Movie • 1966
Abner Hale
Brink of Life
Movie • 1958
Harry Andersson
Heidi
Movie • 2005
Uncle Alp
Illustrious Corpses
Movie • 1976
Supreme Court President
Minns ni?
Movie • 1993
(archive footage)
The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute
Movie • 1974
Self (archive footage)
Private Confessions
Movie • 1996
Jacob
Belmondo, il était une fois le beau monde
Movie • 2011
Self
The Kremlin Letter
Movie • 1970
Colonel Kosnov
The Apple War
Movie • 1971
Roy Lindberg
The Quiller Memorandum
Movie • 1966
Oktober
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Movie • 2011
The Renter
The Desert of the Tartars
Movie • 1976
Cap. Ortiz
Sleepless
Movie • 2001
Moretti
Miss Julie
Movie • 1951
Groom
Escape to Victory
Movie • 1981
Major Karl von Steiner
Hour of the Wolf
Movie • 1968
Johan Borg
Oscar and the Lady in Pink
Movie • 2009
Le docteur Dusseldorf
Delblanc
Movie • 1996
Narrator (voice)
Duet for One
Movie • 1986
Dr. Louis Feldman
The Night Visitor
Movie • 1971
Salem
Brass Target
Movie • 1978
Shelley Martin Webber
The Flight of the Eagle
Movie • 1982
Salomon August Andrée
Light Keeps Me Company
Movie • 2000
Self
Steppenwolf
Movie • 1974
Harry Haller
Code Name: Emerald
Movie • 1985
Jürgen Brausch
Hidden Children
Movie • 2004
Valobra
Voyage of the Damned
Movie • 1976
Captain Schroeder
Och ge oss skuggorna
Movie • 1993
Eugene O'Neill
Black Journal
Movie • 1977
Lisa Carpi / Carabinieri Marshal
Solomon
Movie • 1997
Davide
Hamsun
Movie • 1996
Knut Hamsun
Heart of a Dog
Movie • 1976
Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazenski
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist
Movie • 1998
Self - Father Merrin
Ghostbusters II
Movie • 1989
Vigo (voice) (uncredited)
The Touch
Movie • 1971
Andreas Vergerus
The Reward
Movie • 1965
Scott Swenson
The Soldier's Tale
Movie • 1984
The Devil (voice)
Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan'
Movie • 2000
Self
Depth Solitude
Movie • 1995
Narrator (voice)
Branded
Movie • 2012
Marketing Guru
Foxtrot
Movie • 1976
Larsen
Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story
Movie • 1975
The Father
The Bachelor
Movie • 1990
Von Schleheim
The Wolf at the Door
Movie • 1986
August Strindberg
The Silent Touch
Movie • 1992
Henry Kesdi
Only a Mother
Movie • 1949
Nils
The Mistress
Movie • 1962
The Man
Jerusalem
Movie • 1996
Vicar
Target Eagle
Movie • 1982
Coronel O'Donnell
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Movie • 2015
Lor San Tekka
Father
Movie • 1990
Joe Mueller
Red King, White Knight
Movie • 1989
Szaz
Max Von Sydow: Dialogues with The Renter
Movie • 2012
Self
The Right to Love
Movie • 1956
Bergman
No Man's Woman
Movie • 1953
Olof
Wonderful Adventures of Nils
Movie • 1962
The Father
Stjärnbilder
Movie • 1995
(archive footage)
Samson and Delilah
Movie • 1984
Sidka
Here Is Your Life
Movie • 1966
Smålands-Pelle
The Ox
Movie • 1991
Vicar
Black Palm Trees
Movie • 1968
Gustav Olofsson
Venetian Lies
Movie • 1981
Marcello Herrighe
Interlude in the Marshland
Movie • 1965
Alex Kvist
Let Poland Be Poland
Movie • 1982
Self - Co-Host
Mr. Sleeman Is Coming
Movie • 1957
Hunter
Spion 503
Movie • 1958
Horst, Gestapo-mand
The Letters
Movie • 2014
Celeste van Exem
The Second Victory
Movie • 1987
Dr. Huber
Hurricane
Movie • 1979
Dr. Danielsson
The First, the Last
Movie • 2016
Le croque-mort
Rabies
Movie • 1958
Bo Stensson Svenningson
The Human Factor
Movie • 1988
Le dernier civil
Movie • 1984
Gérard Bauerle
Their Frozen Dream
Movie • 1997
S.A. Andrée (voice)
She Dances Alone
Movie • 1981
Nijinsky (voice)
Cellini: A Violent Life
Movie • 1990
Pope Clement VII
Starring Sigmund Freud
Movie • 2012
Kojak The Belarus File
Movie • 1985
Peter Barak
Made in Sweden
Movie • 1969
Magnus Rud
The Cinema of Carl Th. Dreyer
Movie • 1982
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes
Movie • 1990
Father Siemes
Kursk
Movie • 2018
Admiral Vladimir Petrenko
The Repenter
Movie • 1985
Spinola
4 x 4
Movie • 1965
Kvist
The Princess and the Pauper
Movie • 1997
Epos
Dragons: Real Myths and Unreal Creatures
Movie • 2013
Dr. Alistair Conis
The Diary of Anne Frank
Movie • 1967
Otto Frank
Morfars resa
Movie • 1993
Simon S.L. Fromm
Onkel Vanja
Movie • 1994
The Professor
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Perils of Cupid
Movie • 2000
Freud
The Last Norwegian Troll
Movie • 2010
The Last Norweigian Troll (voice)
The Atlantic
Movie • 1995
Narrator (voice)
Ingmar Bergman
Movie • 1972
Self
An Introduction to Ingmar Bergman
Movie • 1968
Self
Captured: Meet Robert A. Robinson Photographer
Movie • 1995
Narrator (voice)
Embassy
Movie • 1972
Gorenko
The Wolfman
Movie • 2010
Passenger on Train (Director's Cut) (uncredited)
Circle of Passions
Movie • 1983
Carlo di Vilalfratti
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
Movie • 1985
Self
The Wedding Day
Movie • 1960
Anders Frost
Behind the Moomins
Movie • 2010
Narrator (voice)
Death Watch
Movie • 1980
Gerald Mortenhoe
Time is Money
Movie • 1994
Joe Kaufman
The Broken Mirror
Movie • 1975
Matthew Lawrence
Foreign Filmmakers in Hollywood
Movie • 1989
Self
Echoes of the Past
Movie • 2021
Nikolas Andreou (Aged)
Ingmar Bergman: The Magic Lantern
Movie • 1988
Voice
The Minister of Uddarbo
Movie • 1957
Gustaf Ömark
East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Movie • 1991
Narrator (voice)
Destination Dune
Movie • 1983
Self
Palme
Movie • 2012
Self (archive footage)
Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies
Movie • 2025
Self - (archive footage)
Lumière & Company
Movie • 1995
Jacob (segment "Liv Ullman")
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
TV • 1992
Sigmund Freud
The Tudors
TV • 2007
Cardinal Von Waldburg
The Last Place on Earth
TV • 1985
Fridtjof Nansen
Radetzky March
TV • 1995
Baron Franz von Trotta und Sipolje
Game of Thrones
TV • 2011
Three-Eyed Raven
La principessa e il povero
TV • 1997
Epos
Quo Vadis?
TV • 1985
Petrus
Christopher Columbus
TV • 1985
Re Giovanni del Portogallo
Gösta Berlings saga
TV • 1986
Melchior Sinclaire
L'inchiesta - Anno Domini XXXIII
TV • 2007
Tiberio
Professione fantasma
TV • 1998
Psicoanalista dell’aldilà
Grimme Award
TV • 1964
Self
A che punto è la notte
TV • 1994
Arcivescovo di Torino
The Simpsons
TV • 1989
Klaus Ziegler (voice)
The Guldbagge Awards
TV • 1981
Self - Best Director winner
The Guldbagge Awards
TV • 1981
Self - Host
The Guldbagge Awards
TV • 1981
Self - Best Actor winner
The Emigrants
TV • 1974
Karl Oskar
Ring of the Nibelungs
TV • 2004
Eyvind
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee / Presenter
Solomon
TV • 1997
David
Nuremberg
TV • 2000
Samuel Rosenman