Max von Sydow: A tribute to the legendary actor who played chess with death in Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal’

The legendary Swedish-born actor Max von Sydow has passed away at the age of 90 in Paris. One can only think of a very few actors who have been as blessed as von Sydow. Not many actors can claim to have worked with directors ranging from Ingmar Bergman to John Huston to William Friedkin to Sydney Pollack to David Lynch to Lars von Trier to Wim Wenders to Steven Spielberg to Martin Scorsese to Ridley Scott to J.J. Abrams. In a career spanning over seven decades, von Sydow essayed over 100 diverse characters. As a matter of fact, only a handful other actors in the world can match what von Sydow achieved during his illustrious acting career.

Max von Sydow shot to universal acclaim essaying the iconic character of Knight Antonius Block who plays a game of chess with the Grim Reaper (the personification of death himself) in the Swedish master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's 1957 seminal work The Seventh Seal. Block, who is returning home after years of relentless fighting in the Crusades, encounters the Grim Reaper who informs him that his time has come. But, he must stall death in order to reunite with his family. So, he challenges the Grim Reaper to a game of chess on the conditions that he should be allowed to live as long as he is able to keep the Grim Reaper at bay. As metaphorical as it may sound, von Sydow’s mesmerizing performance makes it convincing beyond doubt. His anguished caricature of the Crusader, growing more and more doubtful of the existence of god, would go on to become the archetype of courage and heroism in the existential cinema of the ‘50s and the ‘60s. Also, the film proved to be an international breakthrough for von Sydow who also acted in several other Bergman classics such as Wild Strawberries, Winter Light, Through a Glass Darkly, The Magician, Hour of the Wolf, Shame, The Virgin Spring, The Touch, The Passion of Anna, etc.

After working in a series of Bergman films, von Sydow moved to Hollywood and essayed the central character of Jesus in George Stevens' The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Soon he was in great demand in Hollywood but he continued doing Swedish films. In the US, he earned two Golden Globe nominations. The first one for Hawaii (1966) and the second for William Friedkin's seminal work of modern horror, The Exorcist (1973), wherein he masterfully played a character that was much older than him at the time. Subsequently, in the mid-1970s, he moved to Rome and appeared in a number of Italian films. In Three Days of the Condor (1975), he played an assassin, starring alongside Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway.

Max von Sydow even portrayed the infamous Bond villain Blofeld in the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again. During his long acting career he was also associated with blockbusters like Minority Report, Rush Hour 3, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award. The first nomination was for playing the leading character in the 1987 Danish emigrant drama Pelle the Conquerer. The second one was for a supporting role in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011). A few other important films that he starred in includes David Lynch’s Dune (1984), Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1993), and Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010). Also, he served as the story’s narrator in Lars von Trier’s experimental work, Europa (1991).

He was also associated with several important classics of world cinema such as Francesco Rosi’s Illustrious Corpses (1976), Valerio Zurlini’s The Desert of the Tartars (1976), and Bertrand Tavernier’s Death Watch (1980), Andrey Konchalovskiy’s Duet for One (1986), and Julian Schnabel's, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007). The list of memorable performances delivered by Sydow during his stellar acting career is just endless. Here, it is important to mention von Sydow’s memorable portrayal of the Three-eyed Raven in HBO's popular series Game of Thrones (based on George R. R. Martin’s books) for which he also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. His other important television work includes the German series Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King (2004) and Showtime's drama series The Tudors (2009). Max von Sydow may have left us but he will continue to live in our hearts forever.