Ingmar Bergman : Ask Biography

Ingmar Bergman during production of Wild Strawberries (1957).

Personal information

Birth name

Ernst Ingmar Bergman

Birth date

14 July 1918

Place of birth

Uppsala, Sweden

Date of death

30 July 2007(age 89)

Death place

Fårö, Sweden

Occupation

Film director, producer, screenwriter

Years active

1944 � 2005

Influenced by

August Strindberg
Victor Sjöström
Akira Kurosawa
Federico Fellini
Marcel Carné

Spouse

Else Fisher (1943 � 45)
Ellen Lundström (1945 � 50)
Gun Grut (1951 � 59)
Käbi Laretei (1959 � 69)
Ingrid von Rosen (1971 � 95)

Awards

Goethe Prize

Home | Actor | Ingmar Bergman

Ernst Ingmar Bergman (-svˈɪŋmar ˈbærɪman-sv-Ingmar_Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and influential film directors of all time.

He directed over sixty films and documentaries for cinematic release and for television, most of which he also wrote, and directed over one hundred and seventy plays. Among his company of actors were Liv Ullmann, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin and Max von Sydow. Most of his films were set in the landscape of Sweden. His major subjects were death, illness, faith, betrayal, and insanity.

Bergman was active for more than six decades. In 1976 his career was seriously threatened as the result of a botched criminal investigation for alleged income tax evasion. Outraged, Bergman suspended a number of pending productions, closed his studios, and went into self-imposed exile in Germany for eight years.