The actor, 68, on dreaming of being a diplomat, smashing telephones with skill and the days before Marvel ruled the world

I intended to become a diplomat. That was my dream. I didn’t take acting seriously until I was 16 and got a role in a Swedish show that made me extremely famous right away. There were screaming girls, all that stuff. I’d never had any girl take an interest in me before that. Suddenly being a diplomat didn’t seem half as attractive as it had done.
My heroes growing up were politicians. The main one was Dag Hammarskjöld, a Swedish politician who was the secretary general of the United Nations. He was a real hero for peace to many of my generation. I idolised him.