Ingmar Bergman

Had a dispute with the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre about his production of the play "Misantropen". Directed it for Swedish television instead. Ironically, the chief of Swedish Televisions Dramatic Department has become chief of the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

Father of nine children. They include director Daniel Bergman , (with Kbi Laretei ), actress Anna Bergman , actor Mats Bergman , director Eva Bergman , director Jan Bergman , (with Ellen Bergman ), actress Lena Bergman , (with Else Fisher ), airline captain Ingmar Bergman Jr. (born 1951) (with Gun Hagberg), writer Linn Ullmann , (with Liv Ullmann ), and writer Maria won Rosen (with Ingrid Bergman ).

Swedish Film Institute announced Bergman will donate his raw footage, photographs and manuscripts from his films and plays to a new foundation established to honor him. (5 June 2002)

For many years, he and actor Erland Josephson have had an hour-long telephone conversation once a week, on Saturdays.

Was voted the 8th Greatest Film Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly,.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985". Pages 103-115. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

He retired from filmmaking in 1984, and then in 2003, at the age of 85, he retired from directing plays.

The rock band Van Halen wrote a song called "The Seventh Seal" (from the "Balance" album) in honor of his films. The song talks about Det sjunde inseglet and Jungfrukllan .

Has a daughter, Linn Ullmann , with actress Liv Ullmann. Linn, who played a child in several of her fathers movies, became a literary critic, then novelist. Her debut novel, in 1999, was "Fre du sover" (Before you fall asleep).

Inspired the word "Bergmanesque"

His movies Jungfrukllan , Ssom i en spegel and Fanny och Alexander were Oscar-nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film". All three movies won.

Father-in-law of Henning Mankell.

Likes to watch BMX racing on television.

No relation to Ingrid Bergman , although he was married to another Ingrid, Ingrid Bergman.

Among Woody Allen s biggest idols.

Published "Tre dagbcker", including the diaries of him, his fifth wife Ingrid and their daughter Maria von Rosen.

Was chosen the worlds greatest living filmmaker by "Time" magazine (11 July 2005).

After their daughter Maria had been born out of wedlock in 1959, he finally married Ingrid Bergman in 1971. This was his only marriage which didnt end in divorce.

His grandmother introduced Ingmar to the cinema and went with him to several shows when he was a little boy, always in secrecy since he wasnt allowed to go to the movies by his strict father.

Was fluent in French.

He and Max von Sydow made 13 movies together: Ansiktet , Berringen , Herr Sleeman kommer (not released), Jungfrukllan , Nattvardsgsterna , Nra livet , En passion , Rabies , Det sjunde inseglet , Skammen , Smultronstllet , Ssom i en spegel and Vargtimmen .

His three favorite movies are: Utvandrarna , La dolce vita and Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot .

He and Ingrid Thulin made 10 movies together: Ett drmspel , Ansiktet , Efter repetitionen , Nattvardsgsterna , Nra livet , Riten , Smultronstllet , Tystnaden , Vargtimmen and Viskningar och rop .

He and Bibi Andersson made 13 movies together: Ansiktet , Berringen , Djvulens ga , Fr att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor , Nra livet , Herr Sleeman kommer (not released), En passion , Persona , "Scener ur ett ktenskap" , Rabies , Det sjunde inseglet , Smultronstllet and Sommarnattens leende .

His Top 11 films are (as presented at Goteborg Film Festival, Sweden in 1994): The Circus , Le quai des brumes , Dyrygent , Kvarteret Korpen , La passion de Jeanne dArc . Krkarlen (1921) , Rashmon , La strada , Sunset Blvd. , Die bleierne Zeit , Andrey Rublev .

He and Liv Ullmann made 10 movies together: Ansikte mot ansikte , Hstsonaten , En passion , Persona , Saraband , "Scener ur ett ktenskap" , The Serpents Egg , Skammen , Vargtimmen and Viskningar och rop .

Is buried on the island of Fr, where he had lived most of his life.

Lived on the island of Fr since the early 1960s, but moved to Munich, Germany for a while battling with the Swedish government over alleged tax evasion.

Born to Erik Bergman, a Lutheran minister who later became the chaplain to the King of Sweden, and his wife Karen kerblom.

Was romantically linked to Harriet Andersson from 1952 to 1955 and Bibi Andersson from 1955 to 1959.

Erland Josephson appeared in 14 Bergman films as an actor in a span of almost 60 years (1946-2004): Det regnar p vr krlek ("It Rains on Our Love" ), Till gldje ("To Joy" ), Ansiktet ("The Magician" ), Nra livet ("Brink of Life" ), Vargtimmen ("Hour of the Wolf" ), En passion ("The Passion of Anna" ), Viskningar och rop ("Cries and Whispers" ), "Scener ur ett ktenskap" ("Scenes from a Marriage" ), Trollfljten ("The Magic Flute" ), Ansikte mot ansikte ("Face to Face ), Hstsonaten ("Autumn Sonata" ), Fanny och Alexander , Efter repetitionen ("After the Rehearsal" ), Larmar och gr sig till ("In the Presence of a Clown" ), and Saraband . In addition to acting in Bergmans films, Josephson also co-wrote Bergmans Fr att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor ("All These Women ), one of Bergmans rare comedies (and his first film shot in color).

Among his fellow directors, he listed the three most significant to him as Federico Fellini , Victor Sjstrm and Akira Kurosawa.

Profiled in "Films and Dreams: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrick and Wong Kar-Wei" by Thurston Botz-Borsnstein. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Considered Persona and Viskningar och rop his best movies.

10 of his films are listed in the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Jay Schneider). He is the third best represented director (behind Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks ) and has the greatest number of writing credits on that list of any screenwriter. On the list are the films Sommarnattens leende , Det sjunde inseglet , Smultronstllet , Ssom i en spegel , Nattvardsgsterna , Persona , Vargtimmen , Skammen , Viskningar och rop and Fanny och Alexander .

The Swedish film industry ground to a halt in 1951 due to a ten-month strike by studio personnel, intended as a protest against an "amusement tax" levied against motion picture producers. During this period he directed several TV commercials for a soap called Bris (i.e. Breeze). He later said he was "absurdly grateful" to get this job.

Directed 2 actresses to Oscar nominations: Liv Ullmann (Best Actress, Ansikte mot ansikte ) and Ingrid Bergman (Best Actress, Hstsonaten ).

Fluently spoke Swedish, French and English.

He said his favorite Hollywood director was Billy Wilder.

He was an admirer of the films of Francois Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Melville.

Often directed plays for the radio.

Is going to appear in the new 200 Kronors banknote in 2015.

Like his fellow World Cinema masters, Akira Kurosawa (who started in the Japanese art world) and Federico Fellini (who started in journalism) he came to cinema via circumvention after working as a theater director.

(May 2004) Has now retired from directing, emptied his apartment in Stockholm and his room at the Dramatic Theater, and lives permanently at Fr, Gotland (Sweden).

(January 2007) Recovering from hip replacement surgery.

Died on the same day as Michelangelo Antonioni.

One of favorite filmmakers of Andrei Tarkovsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Woody Allen, and Stanley Kubrick.

He was approached by Italian television in the seventies, about making a TV-movie based on the life of Jesus Christ. He wrote a synopsis and planned on filming the entire movie in the Swedish province Gotland (for example, the rocky beaches of Langhammars on the island of Fr were to serve as Golgatha). Eventually, Franco Zeffirelli was commissioned to helm the project, which became "Jesus of Nazareth" .

The theater is like a faithful wife. The film is the great adventure --,the costly, exacting mistress.

No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight,to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul.

I hope I never get old so I get religious.

Another great couple of examples of the strength of American cinema is,American Beauty (1999) and Magnolia (1999) .

I think I have made just one picture that I really like, and that is,Nattvardsgsterna (1963) . Everything is exactly as I wanted to,have it, in every second of this picture.

Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way,film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark,rooms of our souls.

Everything is worth precisely as much as a belch, the difference being,that a belch is more satisfying.

And he has something in Psycho (1960) , he had some moments.

Not very much to make a fuss about.

Self-taught people sometimes cling too much to the technical side, the,sure side and place technical perfection too high.

New cities arouse too many sensations in me. They give me too many,impressions to experience at the same time. They all crowd in on me.

Being in a new city overwhelms me, unsettles me.

To shoot a film is to organize an entire universe.

Fellini, Kurosawa and Buuel move in the same fields as Tarkovsky.

Antonioni was on his way, but expired, suffocated by his own,tediousness.

[Interviewed for Sommar on Swedish Radio P1 in 2004] I have asked,prominent composers. I have asked prominent musicians. Several,conductors. Where does the music come from? What, how can it be that we,are the only animals, on the entire globe of the earth that makes,music? And why do we do it and how has it come to be? That is something,I really would like to know because none of these people I have asked,has been able to give any answer to "where does the music come from?","Why do we have music?" Personally I have an impression, that the music,is a thing we have been given as a gift. I am not a believer but I do,still believe that the music is a gift, so that we might have an,impression of realities and worlds beyond the world we live in.

Directing is more fun with women. Everything is.

[The last thing Ingmar Bergman said to actor Peter Stormare] Time and,space separates us. But our souls are connected.

Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.

I make all my decisions on intuition. But then, I must know why I made that decision. I throw a spear into the darkness. That is intuition. Then I must send an army into the darkness to find the spear. That is intellect.

Here, in my solitude, I have the feeling that I contain too much humanity.

I understand, all right. The hopeless dream of being - not seeming, but being. At every waking moment, alert. The gulf between what you are with others and what you are alone. The vertigo and the constant hunger to be exposed, to be seen through, perhaps even wiped out. Every inflection and every gesture a lie, every smile a grimace. Suicide? No, too vulgar. But you can refuse to move, refuse to talk, so that you don’t have to lie. You can shut yourself in. Then you needn’t play any parts or make wrong gestures. Or so you thought. But reality is diabolical. Your hiding place isn’t watertight. Life trickles in from the outside, and you’re forced to react. No one asks if it is true or false, if you’re genuine or just a sham. Such things matter only in the theatre, and hardly there either. I understand why you don’t speak, why you don’t move, why you’ve created a part for yourself out of apathy. I understand. I admire. You should go on with this part until it is played out, until it loses interest for you. Then you can leave it, just as you’ve left your other parts one by one.

Death: When next we meet, the hour will strike for you and your friends. Antonius Block: And will you reveal your secrets?Death: I have no secrets. Antonius Block: So do you know nothing?Death: I am unknowing.

No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does straight to our emotions deep into the twilight room of the soul.

All of us collect fortunes when we are children. A fortune of colors of lights and darkness of movement of tensions. Some of us have the fantastic chance to go back to his fortune when grown up.

I make all my decisions on intuition. I throw a spear into the darkness. That is intuition. Then I must send an army into the darkness to find the spear. That is intellect.

I hope I never get so old I get religious.

My pictures are always part of my thinking, and my emotions, tensions, dreams, desires.

Writing is boring, very boring, and it takes so much patience.