{"id":41271,"date":"2020-03-09T10:09:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T16:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=41271"},"modified":"2020-03-09T10:09:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-09T16:09:19","slug":"41271","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=41271","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Max von Sydow, The Exorcist, Seventh Seal, and Game of Thrones star, dies at 90<\/a><\/p>\n

Actor Max von Sydow has died at the age of 90.<\/p>\n

His agent\u00a0told the Associated Press<\/a>\u00a0Monday that von Sydow, who was born in Sweden but became a French citizen in 2002, died on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The actor\u2019s remarkably long career stretched back to the late ’40s and featured appearances in a number of classic films including Ingmar Bergman\u2019s 1957 film\u00a0The Seventh Seal<\/i>, the same director\u2019s Oscar-winning 1960 movie\u00a0The Virgin Spring<\/i>, William Friedkin\u2019s infamous 1973 shocker\u00a0The Exorcist<\/i><\/a>, and 1986\u2019s Woody Allen-directed\u00a0Hannah and Her Sisters<\/i>. He was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in 1989\u2019s\u00a0Pelle the Conqueror<\/i>\u00a0and secured a Best Supporting Actor nomination for 2012\u2019s\u00a0Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Born Carol Adolf von Sydow in Lund, Sweden, the actor studied at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, during which time he appeared in his debut film, the 1949 Swedish drama,\u00a0Only a Mother<\/i>. But Sydow made his name with his performance as a 14th-century knight who challenges Death to a game of chess in\u00a0The Seventh Seal<\/i>. Widely regarded as one of the great works of cinema, the image of von Sydow\u2019s knight facing off against Bengt Ekerot\u2019s Grim Reaper would become an iconic image, famous enough to be parodied decades later in\u00a0Bill & Ted\u2019s Bogus Journey<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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The actor turned down the opportunity to play the titular villain in the first James Bond movie Dr. No<\/i>, instead opting to make his Hollywood debut portraying Jesus Christ in George Stevens\u2019 1965 religious epic,\u00a0The Greatest Story Ever Told<\/i>. That film proved a huge box office bomb, but von Sydow scored subsequent Hollywood roles in 1966\u2019s\u00a0Hawaii<\/i>, the same year\u2019s\u00a0The Quiller Memorandum<\/i>, and John Huston\u2019s 1970 film\u00a0The Kremlin Letter<\/i>\u00a0as well as continuing to work with Bergman on such films as 1969\u2019s\u00a0The Passion of Anna<\/i>\u00a0and 1971\u2019s\u00a0The Touch<\/i>, which found him costarring with Elliott Gould.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Not long after\u00a0The Touch<\/i>, von Sydow was cast in\u00a0The Exorcist<\/i>, an adaptation of William Peter Blatty\u2019s horror novel, and one of the most successful films of all-time. Brilliantly directed by Friedkin, the movie also benefitted from chillingly straight-faced performances by its cast of Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, and von Sydow, who was utterly believable as the aged Father Merrin, despite still being in his mid- \u201840s when the film was made. \u201cWhen I got the offer, I didn’t know anything about it,\u201d von Sydow told the\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/i>\u00a0in 2013. \u201cSomebody gave me the book to read and said, \u2018They want you to play a priest.\u2019 I read the book, and I thought, of course, it was for the young priest. So I said, \u2018That’s a good part.\u2019 And they said, ‘No, no no. They want you for the\u00a0exorcist!\u2019<\/i>\u00a0I still don’t really know why.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his unforgettable appearance in\u00a0The Exorcist<\/i>\u00a0effectively curtailed the chances of von Sydow becoming a Hollywood leading man it helped open other doors. Throughout his career, the actor continued to appear in serious-minded dramatic fare, including\u00a0Pelle the Conqueror<\/i>\u00a0and Julian Schnabel\u2019s 2007 film,\u00a0The Diving Bell and the Butterfly<\/i>. But his otherworldly looks, deep, distinctively-accented voice, and acting reputation resulted in him being recruited to help lend an air of class to an array of big budget sci-fi, fantasy, and horror movies. These included 1980\u2019s\u00a0Flash Gordon<\/i>, 1982\u2019s\u00a0Conan the Barbarian<\/i>, 1993\u2019s\u00a0Needful Things<\/i>, 2002\u2019s Steven Spielberg-directed\u00a0Minority Report<\/i>, and Martin Scorsese\u2019s 2010 terror tale\u00a0Shutter Island<\/i>.<\/p>\n

More recently, Sydow was cast as Lor San Tekka in\u00a0Star Wars: The Force Awakens\u00a0<\/i><\/a>and\u00a0as Three-Eyed Raven on HBO\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>Game of Thrones<\/i><\/a>. His performance in the latter would proved memorable for both viewers and his fellow cast members alike. \u201cThere are certain lines that you think are almost fillers, lines you don\u2019t think are imperative to any kind of storytelling, like, \u2018He\u2019s over there,\u2019\u201d von Sydow\u2019s\u00a0Game of Thrones<\/i>\u00a0costar Isaac Hempstead-Wright told EW in 2016. \u201cBut when Max von Sydow says it, it sounds like it\u2019s the most important news you\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max von Sydow, The Exorcist, Seventh Seal, and Game of Thrones star, dies at 90 Actor Max von Sydow has died at the age of 90. His agent\u00a0told the Associated Press\u00a0Monday that von Sydow, who was born in Sweden but became a French citizen in 2002, died on Sunday. The actor\u2019s remarkably long career stretched … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-passages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41272,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41271\/revisions\/41272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}