# Max von Sydow filmography

Max von Sydow (1929–2020) was a Swedish-French actor, active in both European and American cinema.
Von Sydow started his cinematic career in his native country in 1949 and two of his most memorable roles include Knight Antonius Block in The Seventh Seal (1957), the first of his eleven films with director Ingmar Bergman, and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death; and as Martin in Through a Glass Darkly (1961).
Beginning in 1965, von Sydow starred in Hollywood films; his debut was as Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Other roles include as Father Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert in Three Days of the Condor (1975); Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983); Liet-Kynes in Dune (1984); Dr. Peter Ingham in Awakenings (1990); Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002) and Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Von Sydow was nominated for two Academy Awards, for his roles as Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and The Renter in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2012). On television, von Sydow played the Three-eyed Raven in Game of Thrones. In 2011, he voiced Esbern in the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

## Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1949 | Only a Mother | Nils | Alf Sjöberg | |
| 1951 | Miss Julie | Hand | Alf Sjöberg | |
| 1953 | No Man's Woman | Olaf | Lars-Eric Kjellgren | |
| 1956 | Rätten att älska | Bergman | Mimi Pollak | |
| 1957 | The Seventh Seal | Antonius Block | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1957 | The Minister of Uddarbo | Gustaf Ömark | Kenne Fant | |
| 1957 | Wild Strawberries | Henrik Åkerman | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1958 | Brink of Life | Harry Andersson | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1958 | Kvinnlig spion 503 | Tysk topagent Horst | Jørn Jeppesen | |
| 1958 | The Magician | Albert Emanuel Vogler | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1960 | The Virgin Spring | Töre | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1960 | The Wedding Day | Anders Frost | Kenne Fant | |
| 1961 | Through a Glass Darkly | Martin | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1962 | Adventures of Nils Holgersson | The Father | Kenne Fant | |
| 1962 | The Mistress | Married Man | Vilgot Sjöman | |
| 1963 | Winter Light | Jonas Persson | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1965 | 4x4 | Kvist | Jan Troell | |
| 1965 | The Greatest Story Ever Told | Jesus Christ | George Stevens | |
| 1965 | The Reward | Scott Swenson | Serge Bourguignon | |
| 1966 | Hawaii | Reverend Abner Hale | George Roy Hill | |
| 1966 | The Quiller Memorandum | Oktober | Michael Anderson | |
| 1966 | Here's Your Life | Smålands-Pelle | Jan Troell | |
| 1968 | Hour of the Wolf | Johan Borg | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1968 | Black Palm Trees [sv] | Gustav Olofsson | Lars-Magnus Lindgren | |
| 1968 | Shame | Jan Rosenberg | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1969 | Made in Sweden | Magnus Rud | Johan Bergenstråhle | |
| 1969 | The Passion of Anna | Andreas Winkelman | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1970 | The Kremlin Letter | Colonel Kosnov | John Huston | |
| 1971 | The Night Visitor | Salem | László Benedek | |
| 1971 | The Emigrants | Karl Oskar | Jan Troell | |
| 1971 | The Touch | Andreas Vergerus | Ingmar Bergman | |
| 1971 | The Apple War | Roy Lindberg | Tage Danielsson | |
| 1972 | Embassy | Gorenko | Gordon Hessler | |
| 1972 | The New Land | Karl Oskar | Jan Troell | |
| 1973 | The Exorcist | Father Lankester Merrin | William Friedkin | |
| 1974 | Steppenwolf | Harry Haller | Fred Haines | |
| 1975 | Egg! Egg! A Hardboiled Story | The Father | Hans Alfredson | |
| 1975 | Le miroir éclate | Matthew Lawrence | Claude d'Anna | |
| 1975 | Three Days of the Condor | G. Joubert | Sydney Pollack | |
| 1975 | The Ultimate Warrior | The Baron | Robert Clouse | |
| 1976 | Dog's Heart | Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazenski | Alberto Lattuada | |
| 1976 | Illustrious Corpses | Supreme Court's President | Francesco Rosi | |
| 1976 | Foxtrot | Larsen | Arturo Ripstein | |
| 1976 | The Desert of the Tartars | Hortiz | Valerio Zurlini | |
| 1976 | Voyage of the Damned | Captain Schroeder | Stuart Rosenberg | |
| 1977 | Exorcist II: The Heretic | Father Lankester Merrin | John Boorman | |
| 1977 | March or Die | François Marneau | Dick Richards | |
| 1977 | Black Journal | Lisa Carpi | Mauro Bolognini | |
| 1978 | Brass Target | Shelley | John Hough | |
| 1979 | Hurricane | Dr Danielsson | Jan Troell | |
| 1979 | Bugie bianche | Marcello Herrighe | Stefano Rolla [it] | |
| 1980 | Death Watch | Gerald Mortenhoe | Bertrand Tavernier | |
| 1980 | Flash Gordon | Ming the Merciless | Mike Hodges | |
| 1981 | Escape to Victory | Major Karl von Steiner | John Huston | |
| 1981 | She Dances Alone | Himself / Nijinsky | Robert Dornhelm | Voice |
| 1982 | Conan the Barbarian | King Osric | John Milius | |
| 1982 | Flight of the Eagle | Salomon August Andrée | Jan Troell | |
| 1982 | Hit Man | Colonel O'Donnell | José Antonio de la Loma [es] | |
| 1983 | Le Cercle des passions [fr] | Carlo di Vilalfratti | Claude d'Anna | |
| 1983 | Strange Brew | Brewmeister Smith | Rick Moranis Dave Thomas | |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again | Ernst Stavro Blofeld | Irvin Kershner | |
| 1984 | Dreamscape | Doctor Paul Novotny | Joseph Ruben | |
| 1984 | Dune | Doctor Liet-Kynes | David Lynch | |
| 1985 | Code Name: Emerald | Jurgen Brausch | Jonathan Sanger | |
| 1985 | The Repenter | Spinola | Pasquale Squitieri | |
| 1986 | Hannah and Her Sisters | Frederick | Woody Allen | |
| 1986 | The Second Victory | Dr Huber | Gerald Thomas | |
| 1986 | The Wolf at the Door | August Strindberg | Henning Carlsen | |
| 1986 | Duet for One | Dr Louis Feldman | Andrei Konchalovsky | |
| 1987 | Pelle the Conqueror | Lassefar Karlsson | Bille August | |
| 1988 | Katinka | | Himself | |
| 1989 | Ghostbusters II | Vigo | Ivan Reitman | Voice |
| 1990 | The Bachelor | Von Schleheim | Roberto Faenza | |
| 1990 | A Violent Life | Pope Clement VII | Giacomo Battiato | |
| 1990 | Father | Joe Mueller | John Power | |
| 1990 | Awakenings | Dr Peter Ingham | Penny Marshall | |
| 1991 | A Kiss Before Dying | Thor Carlsson | James Dearden | |
| 1991 | Europa | Narrator | Lars von Trier | Voice |
| 1991 | Until the End of the World | Henry Farber | Wim Wenders | |
| 1991 | The Ox | Vicar | Sven Nykvist | |
| 1991 | The Best Intentions | Johan Åkerblom | Bille August | |
| 1992 | The Silent Touch [pl] | Henry Kesdi | Krzysztof Zanussi | |
| 1993 | Grandpa's Journey | Simon S.L. Fromm | Staffan Lamm [sv] | |
| 1993 | Needful Things | Leland Gaunt | Fraser C. Heston | |
| 1994 | Time is Money | Joe Kaufman | Paolo Barzman | |
| 1995 | Judge Dredd | Judge Fargo | Danny Cannon | |
| 1996 | Hamsun | Knut Hamsun | Jan Troell | |
| 1996 | Jerusalem | Vicar | Bille August | |
| 1997 | Hercules | Zeus | Ron Clements John Musker | Swedish dub |
| 1998 | What Dreams May Come | The Tracker | Vincent Ward | |
| 1999 | Snow Falling on Cedars | Nels Gudmundsson | Scott Hicks | |
| 2001 | Sleepless | Ulisse Moretti | Dario Argento | |
| 2001 | Druids | Guttuart | Jacques Dorfmann | |
| 2001 | Intacto | Samuel | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | |
| 2002 | Minority Report | Director Lamar Burgess | Steven Spielberg | |
| 2002 | Les amants de Mogador | | Souheil Ben-Barka | |
| 2004 | Night of the Living Dorks | Father Lankester Merrin | Matthias Dinter | Uncredited, Cameo |
| 2005 | Heidi | Uncle Alp | Paul Marcus | |
| 2006 | The Inquiry | Tiberius | Giulio Base | |
| 2007 | Rush Hour 3 | Varden Reynard | Brett Ratner | |
| 2007 | Emotional Arithmetic | Jakob Bronski | Paolo Barzman | |
| 2007 | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Papinou | Julian Schnabel | |
| 2009 | Solomon Kane | Josiah Kane | Michael J. Bassett | |
| 2009 | A Man and His Dog | The Commander | Francis Huster | Cameo |
| 2010 | Shutter Island | Dr Jeremiah Naehring | Martin Scorsese | |
| 2010 | Robin Hood | Sir Walter Loxley | Ridley Scott | |
| 2010 | Moomins and the Comet Chase | Narrator | Maria Lindberg | Voice |
| 2010 | The Wolfman | Passenger on train | Joe Johnston | Uncredited, Director's cut |
| 2011 | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close | The Renter | Stephen Daldry | |
| 2012 | Truth & Treason | Frank Fikeis | | |
| 2012 | Branded | Joseph Pascal | Jamie Bradshaw & Aleksandr Dulerayn | |
| 2013 | Dragons 3D | Dr Alistair Conis | Marc Fafard | |
| 2015 | The Letters | Father Celeste van Exem | William Riead | |
| 2015 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Lor San Tekka | J. J. Abrams | |
| 2016 | The First, the Last | The Undertaker | Bouli Lanners | |
| 2018 | Kursk | Vladimir Petrenko | Thomas Vinterberg | |
| 2021 | Echoes of the Past (Greek Title: Kalavryta 1943) | Nikolas Andreou (aged) | Nicholas Dimitropoulos | Posthumous release |

## Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957 | Herr Sleeman kommer | The Hunter | Television film |
| 1958 | Rabies | Bo Stensson Svenningson | TV movie |
| 1967 | The Diary of Anne Frank | Otto Frank | Television film |
| 1973 | Kvartetten som sprängdes | Engineer Planertz | 4 episodes |
| 1984 | Samson and Delilah | Sidka | Television film |
| 1984 | The Soldier's Tale | The Devil | Voice, Television film |
| 1984 | Le Dernier Civil | Johann Kaspar Bäuerle | Television film |
| 1985 | Kojak: The Belarus File | Peter Barak | Television film |
| 1985 | The Last Place on Earth | Fridtjof Nansen | 3 episodes |
| 1985 | Quo Vadis? | The Apostle Peter | 6 episodes |
| 1985 | Christopher Columbus | King John of Portugal | 4 episodes |
| 1986 | Gösta Berlings saga [sv] | Melchior Sinclaire | 3 episodes |
| 1989 | Red King, White Knight | Szaz | |
| 1990 | Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes | Father Siemes | Television film |
| 1993 | Och ge oss skuggorna | Eugene O'Neill | Television film |
| 1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Sigmund Freud | Episode: "Vienna, November 1908" |
| 1994 | A che punto è la notte [it] | Archbishop of Turin | Television film |
| 1994 | Radetzkymarsch [de] | Baron Franz von Trotta und Sipolje | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Uncle Vanya | Professor Serebryakov | Television film |
| 1995 | Citizen X | Dr Alexandr Bukhanovsky | |
| 1996 | Samson and Delilah | Narrator | Voice, Uncredited Television film |
| 1996 | Private Confessions | Jacob | Television film |
| 1997 | Hostile Waters | Admiral Chernavin | Television film |
| 1997 | La principessa e il povero [it] | Epos | Television film |
| 1997 | Solomon | David | 3 episodes |
| 2000 | Nuremberg | Samuel Rosenman | Episode #1.1 |
| 2004 | Hidden Children – Escape of the Innocents [nl] | Valobra | Television film |
| 2004 | Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King | Eyvind | Television film |
| 2009 | The Tudors | Cardinal von Walburg | 4 episodes |
| 2014 | The Simpsons | Klaus Ziegler | Voice, Episode: "The War of Art" |
| 2016 | Game of Thrones | Three-eyed Raven | 3 episodes |

## Video games

| Year | Title | Voice role |
| 2009 | Ghostbusters: The Video Game | Vigo the Carpathian |
| 2011 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Esbern |
| 2016 | Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Lor San Tekka |