Ingmar Bergman: Swedish director and screenwriter (1918–2007)

Ingmar Bergman found bleakness and despair as well as comedy and hope in his indelible explorations of the human condition. He is regarded as one of the great masters of modern cinema.

Ingmar Bergman
Bergman in 1966
Born	Ernst Ingmar Bergman (1918-07-14)14 July 1918 Uppsala, Sweden
Died	30 July 2007(2007-07-30) (aged 89) Fårö, Sweden
Other names	Buntel Eriksson
Years active	1944 – 2005
Spouses	Else Fischer (1943–1945) Ellen Lundström (1945-1950) Gun Grut (1951–1959) Käbi Laretei (1959–1969) Ingrid von Rosen (1971–1995)
Children	Lena Bergman Eva Bergman Jan Bergman Mats Bergman Anna Bergman Ingmar Bergman Jr. Maria von Rosen Daniel Bergman Linn Ullmann
Awards	Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award 1971 Lifetime Achievement César Award for Best Foreign Film 1984 Fanny och Alexander

Many filmmakers worldwide, including Americans Woody Allen and Robert Altman, the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and the Taiwanese director Ang Lee, have cited the work of Bergman as a major influence on their work.

Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born in Uppsala, Sweden to a Lutheran minister of Danish descent, Erik Bergman (later chaplain to the King of Sweden), and his wife, Karin (née Åkerblom). He grew up surrounded by religious imagery and discussion. His father was a rather conservative parish minister and strict family father: Ingmar was locked up in dark closets for infractions such as wetting the bed. "While father preached away in the pulpit and the congregation prayed, sang or listened," Ingmar writes in his biography Laterna Magica,

"I devoted my interest to the church’s mysterious world of low arches, thick walls, the smell of eternity, the colored sunlight quivering above the strangest vegetation of medieval paintings and carved figures on ceilings and walls. There was everything that one’s imagination could desire — angels, saints, dragons, prophets, devils, humans."

He performed two five-month stretches of mandatory military service and studied Art and Literature at Stockholm University College (the later Stockholm University), but without graduating. Instead, he developed an interest in theatre and later in cinema (though he had become a "genuine movie addict" by the early 1930s).

Although he grew up in a devout Lutheran household, Bergman stated that he lost his faith at age eight but came to terms with this fact only when making Winter Light.

From the early sixties, Bergman lived much of his life on the island of Fårö, Gotland, Sweden, where he made a number of his movies. Bergman moved to Munich for a while following a protracted battle with the Swedish government over alleged tax evasion, and did not return to make another movie in Sweden until 1982, when he directed Fanny and Alexander. Bergman said this would be his last movie, and that he would go on to direct theater. Since that time he did make a number of movies for television, but later retired to Fårö, stating in 2004 that he would never again leave the island.

Ingmar Bergman died at his home on Fårö, in the early morning of 30 July 2007, aged 89, the same day that another great movie director, Michelangelo Antonioni, died.

Bergman was married five times:

• 25 March 1943 – 1945, to Else Fisher, choreographer and dancer (divorced). Children:
  • Lena Bergman, actress, born 1943.
• 22 July 1945 – 1950, to Ellen Lundström, choreographer and movie director (divorced). Children:
  • Eva Bergman, movie director, born 1945,
  • Jan Bergman, movie director (1946–2000), and
  • twins Mats and Anna Bergman, both actors and movie directors and born in 1948.
• 1951 – 1959, to Gun Grut, journalist (divorced). Children:
  • Ingmar Bergman Jr, airline captain, born 1951.
• 1959 – 1969, to Käbi Laretei, concert pianist (divorced). Children:
  • Daniel Bergman, movie director, born 1962.
• 11 November 1971 – 20 May 1995, to Ingrid von Rosen (maiden name Karlebo) (widowed). Children:
  • Maria von Rosen, author, born 1959.

The first four marriages ended in divorce. The last ended when his wife Ingrid died of stomach cancer in 1995, aged 65. Aside from his marriages, Bergman had romantic relationships with actresses Harriet Andersson (1952–55), Bibi Andersson (1955–59), and Liv Ullmann (1965–70). He was the father of writer Linn Ullmann with Liv Ullmann. In all, Bergman had nine children, one of whom died before him.

Academy Awards

In 1971, Bergman received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Awards ceremony. Three of his films won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The list of his nominations and awards:

• Won: Best Foreign Film The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan) (1960)
• Won: Best Foreign Film Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en spegel) (1961)
• Won: Best Foreign Film Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) (1983)
• Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället) (1957)
• Nominated: Best Original Screenplay Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
• Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop) (1974)
• Nominated: Best Picture, Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop) (1974)
• Nominated: Best Director, Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop) (1974)
• Nominated: Best Director, Face to Face (Ansikte mot ansikte) (1977)
• Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten) (1979)
• Nominated: Best Original Screenplay, Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) (1983)
• Nominated: Best Director, Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) (1983)

BAFTA Awards

• Nominated: Best Film from any Source, The Magician (Ansiktet) (1960)
• Nominated: Best Foreign Film, Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) (1984)

Berlin Film Festival

• Won: Golden Bear for Best Film, Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället) (1957)
• Nominated: Golden Bear for Best Film, Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en spegel) (1961)
• Won: OCIC Prize, Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

Cesar Awards

• Nominated: Best Foreign Film, The Magic Flute (Trollflöjten) (1976)
• Nominated: Best Foreign Film, Autumn Sonata (Höstsonaten) (1979)
• Won: Best Foreign Film, Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) (1984)
• Nominated: Best European Film, Saraband (2005)

Cannes Film Festival

• Won: Best Poetic Humor Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) (1955)
• Nominated: Golden Palm Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) (1955)
• Won: Jury Special prize The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet) (1957)
• Nominated: Golden Palm The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet) (1957)
• Won: Best Director Brink of Life (Nära livet) (1958)
• Nominated: Golden Palm Brink of Life (Nära livet) (1958)
• Won: Special Mention The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan) (1960)
• Nominated: Golden Palm The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan) (1960)
• Won: Technical Grand Prize Cries and Whispers (Viskningar och rop) (1972)
• Won: Palm of Palms (1997)
• Won: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (1998) (Special award for his whole works.)

Golden Globe Awards

• Won: Best Foreign Film Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället) (1960)
• Won: Best Foreign Film The Virgin Spring (1961)
• Won: Best Foreign Film Scenes from a Marriage (1975)
• Won: Best Foreign Film Face to Face (1976)
• Won: Best Foreign Film Autumn Sonata (1978)
• Won: Best Foreign Film Fanny and Alexander (1984)

• Nominated: Best Foreign Film Shame (1968)
• Nominated: Best Foreign Film Cries and Whispers (1973)

Other awards and honors

• Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1961)
• The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (1995)
• BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award (1988)