Ingrid Thulin

Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Lilian Thulin (27 January 1926 – 7 January 2004) was a Swedish actress and director who collaborated with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She was often cast as harrowing and desperate characters, and earned acclaim from both Swedish and international critics. She won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in Brink of Life (1958) and the inaugural Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Silence (1963), and was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for Cries and Whispers (1972).
Early life and education
Thulin was born in Sollefteå, Ångermanland, northern Sweden, the daughter of Nanna (née Larsson) and Adam Thulin, a fisherman. She took ballet lessons as a girl and was accepted by The Royal Dramatic Theatre ("Dramaten") in 1948.
Career
For many years she worked regularly with Ingmar Bergman. Thulin appeared in Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957), The Magician (1958, in which she spent much of the film dressed as a boy), Winter Light (1962), The Silence (1963), The Rite (1969) and Cries and Whispers (1972).
She shared the Best Actress award at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival and received a Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in 1964, the first year the award was given out, for her performance in The Silence.
In 1968, she was cast by Luchino Visconti in his historical epic of Nazi Germany, The Damned. Thulin's performance earned a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress.
Winner of the David di Donatello Awards 1974, Thulin was also nominated for the BAFTA Award the same year. In 1980, she was the head of the jury at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.
Personal life
She was married to Harry Schein, the founder of the Swedish Film Institute, for more than 30 years until 1989, although they lived separately for many years before divorcing. She bought an apartment in Paris, France, in the early 1960s, and some years later a beach house in San Felice Circeo. In 1970, she became a resident of Sacrofano, Italy, where she lived for 34 years. Her memoir was published in 1992 ("Någon jag kände" ("Somebody I knew"); Norstedts Förlag).
Death
She returned to Sweden for medical treatment and later died from cancer in Stockholm, 20 days before her 78th birthday.
Legacy
The municipality of Sollefteå, where Thulin is buried, has given out an Ingrid Thulin Memorial Scholarship annually since 2008. The Scholarship (which is valued at SEK 20,000), is open to any applicants pursuing the arts. It is sponsored by actress Harriet Andersson, Thulin's longtime personal friend.
Selected filmography
Jørund Smed (1948) – Girl
Son of the Sea (1949) – Gudrun
Love Wins Out (1949) – Margit Dahlman
Jack of Hearts (1950) – Gunvor Ranterud
When Love Came to the Village (1950) – Agneta
Living on 'Hope' (1951)– Yvonne
Encounter with Life (1952) – Viola
Kalle Karlsson of Jularbo (1952) – Elsa
A Night in the Archipelago (1953) – Ingrid
The Chieftain of Göinge (1953) – Anna Ryding
Dance in the Smoke (1954) – Woman in haystack (uncredited)
Två sköna juveler (1954) – Lilly Fridh
The Dance Hall (1955) – Cecilia
Whoops! (1955) – Malou Hjorthage
Foreign Intrigue (1956, Director: Sheldon Reynolds) (with Robert Mitchum) – Brita
Never in Your Life (1957) – Lily
Smultronstället / Wild Strawberries (1957, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Victor Sjöström) – Marianne Borg
Brink of Life (1958, Director: Ingmar Bergman) – Cecilia Ellius
Ansiktet / The Magician (1958, Director: Ingmar Bergman) – Manda Vogler
Domaren (1960, Director: Alf Sjöberg) – Brita Randel
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962, Director: Vincente Minnelli) (with Glenn Ford) – Marguerite Laurier
Agostino (1962, Director: Mauro Bolognini) – Agostino's Mother
Nattvardsgästerna / Winter Light (1963, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Gunnel Lindblom) – Märta Lundberg
Tystnaden / The Silence (1963, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Gunnel Lindblom) – Ester
Sekstet (1963) – Elaine
Espionage (TV series) (1963) - 'The Incurable One' episode
Die Lady (1964) – Nadine
Return from the Ashes (1965, Director: J. Lee Thompson) (with Maximilian Schell, Samantha Eggar) – Dr. Michele 'Mischa' Wolf
La guerre est finie (1966, Director: Alain Resnais) (with Yves Montand) – Marianne
Night Games (1966) – Irene
Domani non siamo più qui (1967) – Gioia
Vargtimmen / Hour of the Wolf (1968, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Max von Sydow) – Veronica Vogler
Calda e... infedele (1968) – Camila
Badarna (1968) – Cook
Adélaïde (1968) – Elisabeth Hermann
O.K. Yevtushenko (1968) – Nando Girl
Riten / The Rite (1969, TV Movie, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Ingmar Bergman and Gunnar Björnstrand) – Thea Winkelmann
La caduta degli dei (1969, Director: Luchino Visconti) (with Dirk Bogarde, Helmut Berger) – Baroness Sophie Von Essenbeck
La corta notte delle bambole di vetro (1971, Director: Aldo Lado) (with Jean Sorel, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bach – Jessica
N.P. il segreto (1971) – N.P.'s wife
Viskningar och rop / Cries and Whispers (1972, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Liv Ullmann, Harriet Andersson) – Karin
La sainte famille (1973) – Maria
En handfull kärlek (1974, Director: Vilgot Sjöman) – Inez Crona
Monismanien 1995 (1975) – Personundersökare
(1975, Director: Pierre Granier-Deferre) (with Lino Ventura) – Hélène
Salon Kitty (1976, Director: Tinto Brass) (with Helmut Berger) – Kitty Kellermann
L'Agnese va a morire (1976) – Agnese
The Cassandra Crossing (1976, Director: George Pan Cosmatos) (with Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Burt Lancaster) – Dr. Elena Stradner
En och en (1978) – Ylva
It Rained All Night the Day I Left (1980) – Minor Role
Efter repetitionen / After the Rehearsal (1984, TV Movie, Director: Ingmar Bergman) (with Erland Josephson)
Il Giorno prima (1987, Director: Giuliano Montaldo) (with Ben Gazzara, Burt Lancaster, Kate Nelligan) – Mrs. Havemeyer
Orn (1987)
The House of Smiles (1991) – Adelina (final film role)
References
Further reading
Cowie, Peter (1970): Sweden 1. An Illustrated Guide ... to the Work of the Leading Directors, Players, Technicians, and other Key Figures in Swedish Cinema, with Credits and Plot outlines to more than seventy important Films, and Index to 1,000 Titles, A. Zwemmer Ltd., London
Cowie (1970): Sweden 2. A Comprehensive Assessment of the Themes, Trends, and Directors in Swedish Cinema, A. Zwemmer Ltd., London
Cowie (1977): Film in Sweden. Stars and Players, Tantivy Press, London
Loman, Rikard
External links
Ingrid Thulin Official Website (Swedish) (archived)
Ingmar Bergman Face to Face on Ingrid Thulin
Bergman's leading lady dies at 76
Bergmanorama on Ingrid Thulin
Ingrid Thulin: Northern Light
1926 births
2004 deaths
20th-century Swedish actresses
Swedish film actresses
Best Actress Guldbagge Award winners
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners
Deaths from cancer in Sweden
People from Sollefteå Municipality