Max von Sydow on film: 5 memorable roles in a stellar career
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With the death of Max von Sydow on Sunday at the age of 90, the world of cinema has lost one of its most versatile screen performers.
The Swedish-born von Sydow was first recognized for his early work with director Ingmar Bergman, a fellow Swede. During the course of his seven-decade career, von Sydow received two Academy Award nominations – for best actor in 1988 for his portrayal of an impoverished farmer in “Pelle the Conqueror,” and best supporting actor in 2012 for his role as a mute in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.”
The recognition however doesn’t come close to reflecting the high level of performance he achieved in a wide range of films.
“What I as an actor look for is a variety of parts. It is very boring to be stuck in more or less one type of character,” he once said in an interview.
Here are five films von Sydow appeared in that are particularly memorable for the variety of characters he played and their disparate natures.
- “The Exorcist” – Here is von Sydow as the title character, a Catholic priest convinced that he can help a possessed young girl who brings him face-to-face with the devil. This couldn’t have been an easy film to make. One of von Sydow’s best moments in the film is when the demon spits green goo in his face and he merely removes his glasses as if nothing happened.
- “Victory” – A preposterous movie about a group of allied prisoners of war taking on a team of Nazis in a soccer match during World War II. Never mind that allied POW’s in German hands were so undernourished they barely had the strength to stand up, let alone train and play soccer. In spite of the ridiculous premise, it’s a fun film to watch, with von Sydow shining as Major Karl Von Steiner. Playing a Nazi officer was something von Sydow could do falling out of bed.
- “Hannah and Her Sisters” – As the older, intellectually superior artist Frederic who is romantically involved with a younger woman, played by Barbara Hershey, von Sydow is almost a parody of himself. He comes off as haughty and intimidating, but crumbles convincingly when Hershey’s character says she wants to break up with him. “I should have married you years ago when you wanted to. I should have agreed,” he exclaims in arrogant desperation.
- “Strange Brew” – The last place you would expect to find Max von Sydow is in a movie about Bob and Doug McKenzie, the crazy Canadian brother characters hatched by SCTV. But proving that he also had a gift for comedy, von Sydow stars as the evil Brewmeister Smith and contributes greatly to what the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Jay Scott called the movie’s “offhand surrealism.”
- “Three Days of the Condor” – This is von Sydow in one of his signature roles, as a hired assassin, Joubert, who has no compunction about his chosen profession. He sums up his character’s attitude in a classic speech. “What I do is not a bad occupation. Someone is always willing to pay. It’s quite restful. It’s almost peaceful, no need to believe in either side or any side. There is no cause. There is only yourself. The belief is in your own precision.” It’s a speech that could easily sum up von Sydow’s illustrious career.