Bergman, (Ernst) Ingmar

born July 14, 1918, Uppsala, Swed.

Swedish film writer-director.

The rebellious son of a Lutheran pastor, he worked in the theatre before directing his first film, Crisis (1945). He won international acclaim for his films The Seventh Seal (1956) and Wild Strawberries (1957). He assembled a group of actors, including Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann, and a cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, with whom he made powerful films often marked by bleak depictions of human loneliness, including Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Cries and Whispers (1972), Autumn Sonata (1978), and Fanny and Alexander (1982). He later wrote screenplays for The Best Intentions (1992) and Private Confessions (1996). Throughout his career Bergman continued to direct stage productions, usually at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre.

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▪ 2008

 Swedish writer-director

born July 14, 1918, Uppsala, Swed.

died July 30, 2007, Fårö, Swed.

achieved worldwide fame for writing and directing films that, in an unmistakably individual style, examine the issues of morality by exploring man's relationship to himself, to others, and to God. He was noted for his versatile camera work and for his fragmented narrative style, which contribute to his bleak depiction of human loneliness, vulnerability, and torment. Although Bergman never won an individual Academy Award (despite nine nominations), three of his movies won Oscars for best foreign language film—Jungfrukällan (1960; The Virgin Spring), Såsom i en spegel (1961; Through a Glass Darkly), and Fanny och Alexander (1983; Fanny and Alexander). In 1971 the academy presented him with a lifetime achievement award. Bergman was the son of a Lutheran pastor and frequently remarked on the importance of his childhood background in the development of his ideas and moral preoccupations. He attended Stockholm University, where he studied art, history, and literature and began writing, acting in, and directing student theatrical productions. He went on to become a trainee director at the Mäster Olofsgärden Theatre and the Sagas Theatre. In 1944 Bergman was given his first full-time job as a director, at Helsingborg's municipal theatre. Carl-Anders Dymling, then head of the Svensk Filmindustri, commissioned him to write an original screenplay for the film Hets (1944; Frenzy, or Torment). The next year Bergman was given a chance to direct Kris (Crisis). His sixth film as a director, Fängelse (1949; Prison, or The Devil's Wanton), was the first for which he also wrote an original screenplay. Bergman gained international success with the bittersweet romantic comedy-drama Sommernattens leende (1955; Smiles of a Summer Night). In the next few years, he released a succession of new films, which included two masterpieces, Det sjunde inseglet (1956; The Seventh Seal) and Smultronstället (1957; Wild Strawberries); all his early work was revived; and he became an international sensation, universally recognized as one of the most important figures in cinema. The trilogy he made during this period—Through a Glass Darkly, Nattsvardsgästerna (1961; The Communicants, or Winter Light), and Tystnaden (1963; The Silence)—was regarded by many as his crowning achievement. About this time, Bergman acquired a country home on the bleak island of Fårö, which provided a characteristic stage for a series of films involving a small closely knit group of characters; the best known of this Fårö series were Persona (1966) and En passion (1969; A Passion, or The Passion of Anna). With Beröringen (1971; The Touch), his first English-language film, Bergman returned to an urban setting and more romantic subject matter. Viskingar och rop (1972; Cries and Whispers), Scener ur ett aktenskap (1974; Scenes from a Marriage), and Herbstsonate (1978; Autumn Sonata) won popular as well as critical fame. Bergman also directed for Swedish radio and television—his last teleplay, Saraband (2003), featured the main characters from Scenes from a Marriage and received a theatrical release—and for the stage, most notably at the Malmö Municipal Theatre (1952–59) and at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre, where he was a regular director from the early 1960s (manager 1963–66) and where in 2002 he staged his last play, a heavily adapted version of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. Bergman wrote several novels, and his memoir, Laterna magica (The Magic Lantern), was published in 1987. In 1977 he received the Swedish Academy of Letters Great Gold Medal, and in the following year the Swedish Film Institute established a prize in his name.

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