The late, great actor’s career is easier than most to honour with a streaming marathon…When the great Swedish actor Max von Sydow died last week at the age of 90, it was the mark of a robust and catholic career that there was little consensus between news outlets over which of his performances should lead the obituaries. More highbrow publications foregrounded his longtime collaboration with Ingmar Bergman, while others leaned toward English-speakers with The Exorcist. Blockbuster-oriented showbiz sites referred to him as the star of
Game of Thrones and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One headline briefly went viral on
Twitter declaring “Max von Sydow, voice of Vigo in Ghostbusters 2, dead at 90”: it turned out to be from a dedicated Ghostbusters news site, so fair enough, but still. IMDb, meanwhile, has him indexed as “Max von Sydow: actor, Flash Gordon”. It’s safe to say, he was many things to many people.
With more than 115 films made across 70 years, Von Sydow’s career is easier than most to honour with a streaming marathon. Some of his most essential showcases – Jan Troell’s stirring, beautiful family saga The Emigrants and The New Land; Ingmar Bergman’s shattering, surreal wartime marriage study Shame – can only be found on DVD in the UK. But through the likes of
Amazon, iTunes and the BFI Player, you can programme a pretty thorough overview of a remarkable career, one marked as much by the grace and wit that Von Sydow brought to very serious films as the committed gravitas he brought to throwaway entertainment.