Ingmar Bergman

**Ernst**  ( in Swedish, but usually  in English) (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish stage and movie director. 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.

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.

## Biography

**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.

## Family

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, journalis<nowiki/>t (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)

## Infobox (actor)

- **name**: Ingmar Bergman
- **image**: Ingmar Bergman (1966).jpg
- **imagesize**: 250px
- **caption**: Bergman in 1966
- **birth name**: Ernst Ingmar Bergman
- **alias**: Buntel Eriksson
- **birth place**: Uppsala, Sweden
- **death place**: Fårö, Sweden
- **yearsactive**: 1944 – 2005
- **signature**: Ingmar Bergman Signature.png