Legendary actor Max von Sydow has passed away at the age of 90. The actor apparently passed on Sunday, and his agency Diamond Management released this statement:
“It is with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max.”
Born in Sweden, von Sydow first gained recognition from appearing in the films of Ingmar Bergman, including the classic ‘The Seventh Seal’ in 1957, still widely considered one of the best movies of all time.
From there, he went on to play Jesus in ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ in 1965. He is also well-known for playing Father Merrin in ‘The Exorcist’ (1973) and ‘Exorcist II: The Heretic’ (1977). Among his other famous roles were Ming the Merciless in ‘Flash Gordon‘ (1980), King Osric in ‘Conan the Barbarian’ (1982), Bond villain Blofeld in ‘Never Say Never Again’ (1983), Doctor Kynes in ‘Dune‘ (1984), Frederick in ‘Hannah and her Sisters’ (1986), Director Lamar Burgess in ‘Minority Report’ (2002), and more recently, Lor San Tekka in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and Three-Eyed Raven on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’. He also provided the voice of Viggo in ‘Ghostbusters II’, although he was uncredited.
In 1988, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in ‘Pelle the Conqueror’. He was nominated again for his 2012 film ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’.
He was most recently seen in the 2018 war movie ‘The Command’. He recently completed the film ‘Echoes of the Past’, in which he had a starring role. That film is in post-production and has not yet been scheduled for release.
Via Twitter, director Edgar Wright paid tribute, writing:
Max Von Sydow, such an iconic presence in cinema for seven decades, it seemed like he’d always be with us. He changed the face of international film with Bergman, played Christ, fought the devil, pressed the HOT HAIL button & was Oscar nominated for a silent performance. A god.
Rest in peace, Max von Sydow, 1929-2020.
