Quiet master of menace
Film legend Max Von Sydow dies aged 90 after a 60-year career
HOLLYWOOD star Max von Sydow who soared to global fame in the Exorcist has died at the age of 90.
The sight of 6ft3ins tall Max preparing to battle a demon possessing a young girl in the 1973 horror classic is one of the most iconic images in film.
The quietly spoken Swede was already a legend, with a taste for the supernatural.
In Ingmar Bergman’s acclaimed Seventh Seal he played chess with Death.
Director Edgar Wright led the many tributes saying: “It seemed like he’d always be with us. He changed the face of international film. A god.”
Mia Farrow added: “I picture Max in heaven wearing his white linen suit.”
Von Sydow’s mighty career spanned more than 60 years and he appeared in more than 100 films and TV series.
There were recent roles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Game Of Thrones.
The dad-of four, who died at home in France on Sunday, was nominated for two Oscars, for Pelle The Conqueror in 1989 and 2011’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. He was also applauded for his role in The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (2007) and played Bond super-villain Ernst Blofeld in 1983 movie Never Say Never Again. Born Carl Adolf von Sydow in Lund, Sweden, he changed his name after deciding to act, recalling: “During military service, I performed a sketch playing a flea called Max. So when critics kept misspelling my name, I decided to change it and thought, ‘Ah! Max!’.
Although he had at first wanted to be on stage, he made his film debut in 1949.
After years of European films, Von Sydow went to the US to play Jesus in George Stevens’s epic The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965. It launched his Hollywood career.
In recent years, he lent his voice to The Simpsons, and appeared in Game Of Thrones.
He married Christina Olin in 1951 and in 1997 French filmmaker Catherine Brelet.