Max von Sydow

The face that held its own against Death

Max von Sydow stood six feet three inches tall. That height let him dominate the frame without barely moving. In 1957 he sat across from a gray beach in The Seventh Seal, and his gaze held its own against Death during a chess match that film schools still study.

That scene was no stroke of luck. It was the result of relentless discipline in Swedish theater under the baton of Ingmar Bergman. The director found in Von Sydow the perfect vehicle to explore the existential anguish of modern man.

And the world took notice of him.

Hollywood called on him to play Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965. The shoot was a biblical-scale ordeal that nearly tested his patience. But his true impact on mainstream film came years later, with a cassock and a crucifix.

In 1973 he played Father Merrin in The Exorcist. He was only 44 years old at the time. The makeup team needed three hours of daily work to age him, because director William Friedkin was looking for a physical frailty the actor did not yet naturally have.

The metamorphosis of a giant

Many actors with his presence would have been lost to religious or stern roles. Von Sydow preferred to have fun. In 1980 he took on the role of Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon, proving he could play a comic-book villain without losing an ounce of his European elegance.

The industry never quite knew where to put him.

He received his first Oscar nomination in 1988 for Pelle the Conqueror. In that film he played an elderly, defeated father seeking a better life in Denmark. It was a quiet role that contrasted with his appearances in big action productions of the era.

Because the actor had no prejudices when it came to genres. He appeared in Conan the Barbarian in 1982 and faced off against James Bond in Never Say Never Again during 1983. His deep voice remained his best tool for lending weight to any mediocre script.

His presence filled any void.

The French retreat and final years

He worked with Steven Spielberg on Minority Report during 2002. In that same period he chose to obtain French citizenship and settle in Provence. He distanced himself from Sweden after a personal and professional conflict that kept him away from his homeland for decades.

In 2011, he was once again nominated for an Oscar for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. He didn't need to say a single word in the entire film to move the Academy. That mute role proved that his body language was enough to carry a complex dramatic plot.

He joined the Star Wars saga in 2015 with a brief role in The Force Awakens. He also appeared in Game of Thrones during 2016, where he played the Three-Eyed Raven. He was paid by the week of filming, and his contract included strict clauses about his rest hours.

Von Sydow died at his home in France on March 8, 2020. He was 90 years old and held the French citizenship he had obtained in 2002 after formally renouncing his Swedish one. He left behind a catalog of more than one hundred celebrities and a bank account managed by his second wife, Catherine Brelet.