Max von Sydow

The Swedish icon who challenged Death to a game of chess.

He appeared in more than 150 films and several television series over a 70-year career.^[1] Born Carl Adolf von Sydow on 10 April 1929 in Lund, Sweden, the actor later known as Max von Sydow held both Swedish and French citizenship.^[2][3] At age 90, on 8 March 2020, von Sydow passed away at his residence located in Provence, France.^[4]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Carl Adolf von Sydow
Born: 10 April 1929
Birthplace: Lund, Sweden
Died: 8 March 2020
Place of death: Seillans, France
Citizenship: Sweden (until 2002), France (from 2002)
Occupation: Actor
Education: Royal Dramatic Theatre

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He adopted the name "Max" from the star performer of a flea circus he saw while serving in the Swedish Army.^[5][6] Sydow's first film with Bergman was The Seventh Seal (1957), in which he played a knight playing chess with Death.^[7][8] Sydow made his American film debut as Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).^[9][10] He became a French citizen in 2002.^[11][8]

Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, his father, worked as an ethnologist and held a professorship in folkloristics at Lund University, while his mother, Baroness Maria Margareta Rappe, worked as a schoolteacher.^[3]

What the cited sources add

The same source reports that Sydow aged himself 30 years with makeup to play Father Merrin in The Exorcist.^[6] Philip French's Observer profile mentions that Ingmar Bergman, when asked to define "gentleman", replied "Max von Sydow"^[12] The Emmys.com record states that Sydow studied at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre before getting his start through work with Bergman.^[13]

References

Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rafferty, "The Greatest Actor Alive", The Atlantic, December 2015; Hynes, "Staring Down Death: The Singular Career of Max von Sydow", The Village Voice, 28 November 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "NLS: Say How", loc.gov (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Berkvist, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'Seventh Seal' and 'Exorcist', Dies at 90", The New York Times, 9 March 2020; "The Swedish–American Historical Quarterly", Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1996, p. 110; Dundes, "International Folkloristics: Classic Contributions by the Founders of Folklore", Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999, p. 137; Berkvist, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'Seventh Seal' and 'Exorcist', Dies at 90", The New York Times, 9 March 2020; "The Swedish–American Historical Quarterly", Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1 en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Berkvist, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'Seventh Seal' and 'Exorcist', Dies at 90", The New York Times, 9 March 2020; Byrge, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'The Seventh Seal' and 'The Exorcist', Dies at 90", The Hollywood Reporter, 9 March 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Berkvist, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'Seventh Seal' and 'Exorcist', Dies at 90", The New York Times, 9 March 2020; Byrge, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'The Seventh Seal' and 'The Exorcist', Dies at 90", The Hollywood Reporter, 9 March 2020; Berkvist, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'Seventh Seal' and 'Exorcist', Dies at 90", The New York Times, 9 March 2020; Byrge, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'The Seventh Seal' and 'The Exorcist', Dies at 90", The Hollywood Reporter, 9 March 2020; Saad, "Max von Sydow, Swedish star of Bergman films, 'The Exorcist,' dies at 9 en.wikipedia.org
Parkinson, "Max von Sydow: 10 essential films", British Film Institute, 10 April 2017. facts only, no text reused. bfi.org.uk
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Max von Sydow, actor who played chess with Death in 'The Seventh Seal' – obituary", The Daily Telegraph, 9 March 2020; Parkinson, "Max von Sydow: 10 essential films", British Film Institute, 10 April 2017; Bergan, "Max von Sydow obituary", The Guardian, 9 March 2020; Parkinson, "Max von Sydow: 10 essential films", British Film Institute, 10 April 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Bergan, "Max von Sydow obituary", The Guardian, 9 March 2020. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Max von Sydow", Emmys.com (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bergan, "Max von Sydow obituary", The Guardian, 9 March 2020; "Max von Sydow, star of The Exorcist and Game of Thrones, dies aged 90", The Daily Telegraph, 9 March 2020; Berkvist, "Max von Sydow, Star of 'Seventh Seal' and 'Exorcist', Dies at 90", The New York Times, 9 March 2020; Bergan, "Max von Sydow obituary", The Guardian, 9 March 2020; Saad, "Max von Sydow, Swedish star of Bergman films, 'The Exorcist,' dies at 90", Los Angeles Times, 9 March 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Max von Sydow" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Saad, "Max von Sydow, Swedish star of Bergman films, 'The Exorcist,' dies at 90", Los Angeles Times, 9 March 2020; "Han bryter med Sverige", Aftonbladet, 25 December 2011; Gow, "The Face of the Actor (Reprint)", Films and Filming, 1976; Tim Appelo, "Exorcist Director: It Worked Because 'I Made That Film as a Believer'", The Hollywood Reporter, 29 March 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
French, "Philip French's screen legends: No 3: Max von Sydow 1929–", The Observer, 10 February 2008. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
"Max von Sydow", Emmys.com. facts only, no text reused. emmys.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Max von Sydow (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.