Ullmann was born in Tokyo, Japan, the daughter of Norwegian parents, Erik Viggo Ullmann (1907–1945), an aircraft engineer who was working in Tokyo at the time, and Janna Erbe (née Lund; 1910–1996).[12]
Her grandfather was sent to the Dachau concentration camp during World War II for helping Jews escape from the town where he lived in Norway; he died in this camp.[13] When she was two years old, the family moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where her father worked at the Norwegian air force base on Toronto Island (in Lake Ontario) during the Second World War.[14] The family moved to New York, where four years later, her father died after a lengthy hospitalization from head injuries due to being struck by an airplane propeller, his death affecting her greatly.[14][15] Her mother worked as a bookseller, while raising two daughters.[16] They eventually moved to Norway, settling in Trondheim.[17]
Career
Ullmann with her mother Janna in 1959Ullmann in 1966
Ullmann began her acting career as a stage actress in Norway during the mid-1950s. She continued to act in theatre for most of her career and became noted for her portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.
Ullmann made her New York City stage debut in 1975 also in A Doll's House. Appearances in Anna Christie and Ghosts followed, as well as the less than successful musical version of I Remember Mama. This show, composed by Richard Rodgers, experienced numerous revisions during a long preview period, then closed after 108 performances. She also featured in the widely deprecated musical movie remake of Lost Horizon during 1973. In 1977, when she appeared on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, The New York Times said that she "glowed with despair and hope, and was everything one could have wished her to have been" in a performance "not to be missed and never to be forgotten", with her "grace and authority" that was "perhaps more than Garbo...born for Anna Christie:--Or more properly, Anna Christie was born for her."[18]
In 1980, Brian De Palma, who directed Carrie, wanted Liv Ullmann to play the role of Kate Miller in the erotic crime thriller Dressed to Kill and offered it to her, but she declined because of the violence.[19] The role subsequently went to Angie Dickinson. In 1982, Ingmar Bergman wanted Ullmann to play Emelie Ekdahl in his last feature film, Fanny and Alexander, and wrote the role with this in mind.[20] She declined it, feeling the role was too sad. She later stated in interviews that turning it down was one of the few things she really regretted.[20]
During 1984, she was chairperson of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival,[21] and during 2001 chaired the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. She introduced her daughter, Linn Ullmann, to the audience with the words: "Here comes the woman whom Ingmar Bergman loves the most". Her daughter was there to receive the Prize of Honour on behalf of her father; she would return to serve the jury herself during 2011. She published two autobiographies, Changing (1977) and Choices (1984).
Ullmann's first film as a director was Sofie (1992); her friend and former co-actor, Erland Josephson, starred on it. She later directed the Bergman-composed movie Faithless (2000). Faithless garnered nominations for both the Palme d'Or and Best Actress category at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2003, Ullmann reprised her role for Scenes from a Marriage in Saraband (2003), Bergman's final telemovie. Her previous screen role had been in the Swedish movie Zorn (1994).
In 2004, Ullmann revealed that she had received an offer in November 2003 to play in three episodes of the American television series, Sex and the City.[22] She was amused by the offer, and said that it was one of the few programs she regularly watched, but she turned it down.[23] Later that year, Steven Soderbergh wrote a role in the movie Ocean's 12 especially for her, but she also turned that down.[24]
Ullman was married to Norwegian psychiatrist Hans Jakob Stang from 1960 until 1965. She met Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and the two had a relationship that lasted from 1965 to 1970.[32] Writer Linn Ullmann (b. 1966) is their daughter. In 1985, Ullman married Boston real estate developer Donald Saunders, and they remained together after their 1995 divorce.[33][34]
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoundly personal meditations into the myriad struggles facing the psyche and the soul". Some of his most acclaimed works include The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Persona (1966) and Fanny and Alexander (1982), which were included in the 2012 edition of Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time. Other notable works include Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), A Lesson in Love (1954), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light and The Silence, Shame (1968), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), and Autumn Sonata (1978). He was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list.
Max von Sydow was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television series in multiple languages. Capable in roles ranging from stolid, contemplative protagonists to sardonic artists and menacing, often gleeful villains, von Sydow received numerous accolades including honors from the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. He was nominated for two Academy Awards: for Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1987) and for Best Supporting Actor for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
Cries and Whispers is a 1972 Swedish period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann. The film, set in a mansion at the end of the 19th century, is about three sisters and a servant who struggle with the terminal cancer of one of the sisters (Andersson). The servant (Sylwan) is close to her, while the other two sisters confront their emotional distance from each other.
Autumn Sonata is a 1978 drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, and starring Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann and Lena Nyman. Its plot follows a celebrated classical pianist and her neglected daughter who meet for the first time in years, and chronicles their painful discussions of how they have hurt each other. It was the only collaboration between Ingrid Bergman and Ingmar Bergman.
Karin Beate "Linn" Ullmann is a Norwegian author and journalist. A prominent literary critic, she also writes a column for Norway's leading morning newspaper and has published six novels.
Ingrid Lilian Thulin 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).
Persona is a 1966 Swedish avant-garde psychological drama film written, directed, and produced by Ingmar Bergman and starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. The story revolves around a young nurse named Alma (Andersson) and her patient, well-known stage actress Elisabet Vogler (Ullmann), who has suddenly stopped speaking. They move to a cottage, where Alma cares for Elisabet, confides in her, and begins having trouble distinguishing herself from her patient.
Face to Face is a 1976 Swedish psychological drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It tells the story of a psychiatrist who is suffering from a mental illness. It stars Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson.
Erland Josephson was a Swedish actor and author. He was best known by international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky and Theodoros Angelopoulos.
Pernilla August is a Swedish actress, director and screenwriter. Being one of Sweden's leading actresses and a longtime collaborator with director Ingmar Bergman, she won the Best Actress Award at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival for her role in his The Best Intentions. She is best known internationally for portraying Shmi Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
After the Rehearsal is a television film, written and directed by Ingmar Bergman in 1984. The script contains numerous quotes from Strindberg's A Dream Play. The film was screened out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.
Hour of the Wolf is a 1968 Swedish psychological horror film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. The story explores the disappearance of fictional painter Johan Borg, who lived on an island with his wife Alma (Ullmann) while plagued with frightening visions and insomnia.
Faithless is a Swedish film directed by Liv Ullmann from a script by Ingmar Bergman. The story is loosely based on experiences of adultery from Bergman's own life. It was entered into the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
Lena Endre is a Swedish actress of film and television, primarily in the Swedish and Norwegian markets, known for her parts in the Liv Ullmann film Trolösa (2000), and the Millennium series of films, based on the Stieg Larsson books. Endre made her English-language debut in 2012, in Paul Thomas Anderson's movie The Master, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Cinema in Norway has a long history, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, and has an important stance in European cinema, contributing at least 30 feature-length films a year.
Private Confessions is a 1996 Swedish drama film directed by Liv Ullmann and written by Ingmar Bergman. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
Bergman: A Year in a Life, Swedish: Bergman - ett år, ett liv, is a 2018 Swedish-Norwegian documentary film directed by Jane Magnusson. Journeying through 1957, the year Ingmar Bergman released two of his most acclaimed features, made a TV film and directed four plays for theatre, Magnusson has amassed a wealth of archive and contemporary interviews, along with a selection of clips from his vast body of work. Film has its premiere on 71st Cannes Film Festival.
Armand is a 2024 thriller drama film written and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, in his feature directorial debut.
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is a Norwegian filmmaker. His film Armand won the Caméra d'Or for best first feature at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
References
↑ Larsen, Svend Erik Løken (30 August 2017). "Liv Ullmann". Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2018– via Store norske leksikon.
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