Max von Sydox trivia: 54 facts about the famous Swedish actor

Max von Sydox was a Swedish actor who had many appearances in American and European films. He died on March 8, 2020.

So let’s find out some trivia about his life and career.

1. Max von Sydow was born on April 10, 1929
2. His birth name was Carl Adolf von Sydow
3. He died on March 8, 2020
4. He was a Swedish actor who appeared in European and American films
5. Von Sydow featured in more than 100 films and TV series
6. His most memorable film roles include Knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957)
7. It was the earliest of 11 films he made with Bergman
8. This film includes iconic scenes in which his character plays chess with Death
9. He also played Jesus Christ in George Stevens’ The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
10. He also appeared in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, 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), and Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010)
11. He later appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens
12. He also appeared in HBO’s Game of Thrones as Three-eyed Raven
13. For the latter he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination
14. Throughout his long career he received two Academy Award nominations for his performances in Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
15. Von Sydow received the Royal Foundation of Sweden’s Cultural Award in 1954
16. He was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2005
17. He was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur on 17 October 2012
18. Von Sydow became a French citizen after his second marriage
19. Carl Adolf von Sydow was born on 10 April 1929 in Lund, Sweden
20. His father, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, was an ethnologist and professor of folkloristics at the University of Lund
21. His mother, Maria Margareta (“Greta”), the Baroness Rappe, was a schoolteacher
22. Von Sydow has German ancestry through his mother, who is of Pomeranian descent
23. Von Sydow was brought up as a Lutheran
24. He later became an agnostic
25. Von Sydow attended Lund Cathedral School
26. There he learned English at an early age
27. He became interested in drama after seeing a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
28. This prompted him to found an amateur theatrical group along with some of his friends at school
29. Von Sydow served for two years in the Swedish military with the Army Quartermaster Corps
30. There he adopted the name “Max” from the star performer of a flea circus he saw
31. After completing his service, von Sydow studied at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in Stockholm
32. He trained between 1948 and 1951
33. During his time at the Dramaten, he helped start a theatre group, of which actress Ingrid Thulin was a member
34. He made his stage debut in a small part in the Goethe play Egmont
35. He considered it “almost a disaster”
36. But received good reviews for his performance
37. Von Sydow married actress Christina Inga Britta Olin in 1951
38. They had two sons, Clas and Henrik
39. Both appeared with him in the film Hawaii
40. The couple divorced in 1979
41. Von Sydow later married documentarian Catherine Brelet in 1997
42. He adopted Brelet’s two children from a previous marriage
43. In 2002, Von Sydow became a citizen of France
44. At which time he had to relinquish his Swedish citizenship
45. Von Sydow was reported to be either an agnostic or an atheist
46. In 2012, he told Charlie Rose in an interview that Ingmar Bergman had told him he would contact him after death to show him that there was a life after death
47. When Rose asked von Sydow if he had heard from Bergman, he replied that he had
48. He chose not to elaborate further on the exact meaning of this statement
49. In the same interview, he described himself as a doubter in his youth, but stated this doubt was gone
50. He indicated he came to agree with Bergman’s belief in the afterlife
51. Von Sydow was a regular guest of Roy Hodgson’s during Hodgson’s spell as manager of Blackburn Rovers
52. He continued to support the club up until his death in March 2020
53. Von Sydow died on 8 March 2020 at the age of 90
54. He died at his home in Provence, France