Max von Sydow (born Carl Adolf von Sydow; April 10, 1929 – March 8, 2020) was a Swedish actor. He also held French citizenship since 2002. He starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more. He performed in films filmed in many languages, including Swedish, Norwegian, English, Italian, German, Danish, French and Spanish. Some of his most memorable film roles include knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (the first of his eleven films with Bergman and the film that includes the iconic shot of his career in the scene where he plays chess with Death), Jesus in George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told, Father Merrin in Friedkin's The Exorcist, Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor, and Ming the Merciless in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon. He was twice nominated for the Academy Award - Best Leading Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988) and Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).

Filmography

• 2026The Resurrection of Christ
• 2021Echoes of the Past — Nikolas Andreou (Aged)
• 2018Kursk — Admiral Vladimir Petrenko
• 2017Tuschinski's Dream
• 2016The First, the Last — Le croque-mort
• 2015Star Wars: The Force Awakens — Lor San Tekka
• 2014The Letters — Celeste van Exem
• 2013Dragons: Real Myths and Unreal Creatures — Dr. Alistair Conis
• 2012Branded — Marketing Guru
• 2012Starring Sigmund Freud
• 2011Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close — The Renter
• Game of Thrones — Three-Eyed Raven
• 2010Behind the Moomins — Narrator (voice)
• 2010Robin Hood — Sir Walter Loxley
• 2010Shutter Island — Dr. Naehring
• 2010The Last Norwegian Troll — The Last Norweigian Troll (voice)
• 2009A Man and His Dog — Le commandant
• 2009Oscar and the Lady in Pink — Le docteur Dusseldorf
• 2009Solomon Kane — Josiah Kane
• 2008Emotional Arithmetic — Jakob Bronski
• L'inchiesta - Anno Domini XXXIII — Tiberio
• 2007Rush Hour 3 — Varden Reynard
• 2007The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — Papinou
• 2007The Final Inquiry — Tiberius
• The Tudors — Cardinal Von Waldburg
• 2005Heidi — Uncle Alp
• 2004Hidden Children — Valobra
• 2004Ring of the Nibelungs — Eyvind
• Ring of the Nibelungs — Eyvind
• 2002Minority Report — Director Lamar Burgess
• 2001Druids — Guttuart
• 2001Intacto — Samuel
• 2001Sleepless — Moretti
• Nuremberg — Samuel Rosenman
• 2000The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Perils of Cupid — Freud
• 1999Snow Falling on Cedars — Nels Gudmundsson
• Professione fantasma — Psicoanalista dell’aldilà
• 1998What Dreams May Come — The Tracker
• 1997Hostile Waters — Admiral Chernavin
• La principessa e il povero — Epos
• 1997Solomon — Davide
• Solomon — David
• 1997The Princess and the Pauper — Epos
• 1997Their Frozen Dream — S.A. Andrée (voice)
• 1996Delblanc — Narrator (voice)
• 1996Hamsun — Knut Hamsun
• 1996Jerusalem — Vicar
• 1996Private Confessions — Jacob
• 1995Anders Zorn - Med egna ord — Narrator (voice)
• 1995Captured: Meet Robert A. Robinson Photographer — Narrator (voice)
• 1995Citizen X — Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky
• 1995Depth Solitude — Narrator (voice)
• 1995Judge Dredd — Chief Justice Fargo
• 1995Lumière & Company — Jacob (segment "Liv Ullman")
• Radetzky March — Baron Franz von Trotta und Sipolje
• 1995Stjärnbilder — (archive footage)
• 1995The Atlantic — Narrator (voice)
• A che punto è la notte — Arcivescovo di Torino
• 1994Onkel Vanja — The Professor
• 1994Time is Money — Joe Kaufman
• 1993Minns ni? — (archive footage)
• 1993Morfars resa — Simon S.L. Fromm
• 1993Needful Things — Leland Gaunt
• 1993Och ge oss skuggorna — Eugene O'Neill
• 1992The Best Intentions — Johan Åkerblom
• 1992The Silent Touch — Henry Kesdi
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — Sigmund Freud
• 1991A Kiss Before Dying — Thor Carlsson
• 1991East of the Sun, West of the Moon — Narrator (voice)
• 1991Europa — Narrator (voice)
• 1991The Ox — Vicar
• 1991Until the End of the World — Henry Farber
• 1990Awakenings — Peter Ingham
• 1990Cellini: A Violent Life — Pope Clement VII
• 1990Father — Joe Mueller
• 1990Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes — Father Siemes
• 1990The Bachelor — Von Schleheim
• 1989Ghostbusters II — Vigo (voice) (uncredited)
• 1989Red King, White Knight — Szaz
• The Simpsons — Klaus Ziegler (voice)
• 1988Ingmar Bergman: The Magic Lantern — Voice
• 1988Katinka — Director
• 1988The Human Factor
• 1987Pelle the Conqueror — Lasse Karlsson - Farmhand
• 1987The Second Victory — Dr. Huber
• 1986Duet for One — Dr. Louis Feldman
• Gösta Berlings saga — Melchior Sinclaire
• 1986Hannah and Her Sisters — Frederick
• 1986The Wolf at the Door — August Strindberg
• Christopher Columbus — Re Giovanni del Portogallo
• 1985Code Name: Emerald — Jürgen Brausch
• 1985Kojak: The Belarus File — Peter Barak
• Quo Vadis? — Petrus
• The Last Place on Earth — Fridtjof Nansen
• 1985The Repenter — Spinola
• 1984Dreamscape — Paul Novotny
• 1984Dune — Doctor Kynes
• 1984Le dernier civil — Gérard Bauerle
• 1984Samson and Delilah — Sidka
• 1984The Soldier's Tale — The Devil (voice)
• 1983Circle of Passions — Carlo di Vilalfratti
• 1983Never Say Never Again — Ernst Stavro Blofeld
• 1983Strange Brew — Brewmeister Smith
• 1982Conan the Barbarian — King Osric
• 1982Target Eagle — Coronel O'Donnell
• 1982The Cinema of Carl Th. Dreyer
• 1982The Flight of the Eagle — Salomon August Andrée
• 1981Escape to Victory — Major Karl von Steiner
• 1981She Dances Alone — Nijinsky (voice)
• 1981Venetian Lies — Marcello Herrighe
• 1980Death Watch — Gerald Mortenhoe
• 1980Flash Gordon — The Emperor Ming
• 1979Hurricane — Dr. Danielsson
• 1978Brass Target — Shelley Martin Webber
• 1977Black Journal — Lisa Carpi / Carabinieri Marshal
• 1977Exorcist II: The Heretic — Father Lankester Merrin
• 1977March or Die — François Marneau
• 1976Foxtrot — Larsen
• 1976Heart of a Dog — Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazenski
• 1976Illustrious Corpses — Supreme Court President
• 1976The Desert of the Tartars — Cap. Ortiz
• 1976Voyage of the Damned — Captain Schroeder
• 1975Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story — The Father
• 1975The Broken Mirror — Matthew Lawrence
• 1975The Ultimate Warrior — Baron
• 1975Three Days of the Condor — G. Joubert
• 1974Steppenwolf — Harry Haller
• The Emigrants — Karl Oskar
• 1973The Exorcist — Father Lankester Merrin
• 1972Embassy — Gorenko
• 1972The New Land — Karl Oskar
• 1971The Apple War — Roy Lindberg
• 1971The Emigrants — Karl Oskar
• 1971The Night Visitor — Salem
• 1971The Touch — Andreas Vergerus
• 1970The Kremlin Letter — Colonel Kosnov
• 1969Made in Sweden — Magnus Rud
• 1969The Passion of Anna — Andreas Winkelman
• 1968Black Palm Trees — Gustav Olofsson
• 1968Hour of the Wolf — Johan Borg
• 1968Shame — Jan Rosenberg
• 1967The Diary of Anne Frank — Otto Frank
• 1966Hawaii — Abner Hale
• 1966Here Is Your Life — Smålands-Pelle
• 1966The Quiller Memorandum — Oktober
• 19654 x 4 — Kvist
• 1965Interlude in the Marshland — Alex Kvist
• 1965The Greatest Story Ever Told — Jesus
• 1965The Reward — Scott Swenson
• 1963Winter Light — Jonas Persson
• 1962The Mistress — The Man
• 1962Wonderful Adventures of Nils — The Father
• 1961Through a Glass Darkly — Martin
• 1960The Virgin Spring — Töre
• 1960The Wedding Day — Anders Frost
• 1958Brink of Life — Harry Andersson
• 1958Rabies — Bo Stensson Svenningson
• 1958Spion 503 — Horst, Gestapo-mand
• 1958The Magician — Albert Emanuel Vogler
• 1957Mr. Sleeman Is Coming — Hunter
• 1957The Minister of Uddarbo — Gustaf Ömark
• 1957The Seventh Seal — Antonius Block
• 1957Wild Strawberries — Åkerman
• 1956The Right to Love — Bergman
• 1953No Man's Woman — Olof
• 1951Miss Julie — Groom
• 1949Only a Mother — Nils

Appearances as themselves (20)

• 2017Max von Sydow — Self (archive footage)
• 2014I Am Divine — Self (archive)
• 2012Max Von Sydow: Dialogues with The Renter — Self
• 2012Palme — Self (archive footage)
• 2011Belmondo, il était une fois le beau monde — Self
• 2000Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan' — Self
• 2000Light Keeps Me Company — Self
• 1998The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist — Self - Father Merrin
• 1989Foreign Filmmakers in Hollywood — Self
• 1985George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey — Self
• 1983Destination Dune — Self
• 1982Let Poland Be Poland — Self - Co-Host
• The Guldbagge Awards — Self - Best Director winner, Self - Host, Self - Best Actor winner
• 1979A Look at Liv — Self
• 1974The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute — Self (archive footage)
• 1972Ingmar Bergman — Self
• 1968An Introduction to Ingmar Bergman — Self
• 1964Dance Around the Guldbaggen — Self
• Grimme Award — Self
• Golden Globe Awards — Self - Nominee / Presenter