Liv Ullmann | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Norwegian |
Occupation(s) | Actress, director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1957–present |
Spouses | Hans Jakob Stang (m. 1960;div. 1965)Donald Richard Saunders (m. 1985;div. 1995) |
Partner | Ingmar Bergman (1965–1970) |
Children | Linn Ullmann |
Family | Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (grandson) |
Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) [1] is a Norwegian actress. [2] Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. [3] [4] [5] She acted in many of his films, including Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), The Passion of Anna (1969), and Autumn Sonata (1978).
Ullmann won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1972 for the film The Emigrants [6] and has been nominated for another four. [6] In 2000, she was nominated for the Palme d'Or for her second directorial feature film, Faithless . [7] [2] She has received two BAFTA Award nominations, [8] and two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for The Emigrants [9] and Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face . [9] On March 25, 2022, Ullmann was presented with an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her "bravery and emotional transparency that has gifted audiences with deeply affecting screen portrayals". [9] [10] [11]
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]
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 .
She became better known once she started to work with Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman. She later acted, with acclaim, in 10 of his movies, including Persona (1966), The Passion of Anna (1969), Cries and Whispers (1972), and Autumn Sonata (1978), in the last of which her co-actress Ingrid Bergman resumed her own Swedish cinema career. She co-acted often with Swedish actor and fellow Bergman collaborator Erland Josephson, with whom she made the Swedish television drama Scenes from a Marriage (1973), which was also edited to feature-movie length and distributed theatrically. Ullmann acted with Laurence Olivier in A Bridge Too Far (1977), directed by Richard Attenborough.
Nominated more than 40 times for awards, including various lifetime achievement awards, she won the best-actress prize three times from the National Society of Film Critics and three times from the National Board of Review, received three awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, and a Golden Globe. During 1971, Ullmann was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie The Emigrants , and again during 1976 for the movie Face to Face .
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]
During 2006, Ullmann announced that she had been forced to end her longtime wish of making a film based on A Doll's House. According to her statement, the Norwegian Film Fund was preventing writer Ketil Bjørnstad and her from pursuing the project. Australian actress Cate Blanchett and British actress Kate Winslet had been intended to have been cast in the main roles of the movie. She later directed Blanchett in the play A Streetcar Named Desire , by Tennessee Williams, at the Sydney Theatre Company in Sydney, which was performed September through October 2009, and then continued from 29 October to 21 November 2009 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, where it won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Non-resident Production, as well as actress and supporting performer for 2009. The play was also performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York. Ullmann narrated the Canada–Norway co-produced animated short movie The Danish Poet (2006), which won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards during 2007.
In 2008, she was the head of the jury at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival. [25]
During 2012, she attended the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Singapore, where she was honored for her Outstanding Contributions to International Cinema and she also showed her movie on her relationship with Ingmar Bergman. [26] In 2013, Ullmann directed a film adaptation of Miss Julie . The film, released in September 2014, stars Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton. [27] It was widely praised by the Norwegian press.
In 2018, Ullmann narrated Wars Don't End, a documentary about the Lebensborn war children. [28]
In March 2022, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Ullmann would receive the Academy Honorary Award. [29] [30] John Lithgow presented her with the statue at the Governors Awards, saying, "For those few who claim that she never would've been called one of our greatest actors without Ingmar Bergman, I would answer, Bergman would probably never been called one of our greatest filmmakers without Liv Ullman". [31]
Ullmann 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]
She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, [35] and has traveled widely for the organization. She is also co-founder and honorary chair of the Women's Refugee Commission.
In 2005, King Harald V of Norway made Ullmann a Commander with Star of the Order of St. Olav. [36] She received an honorary degree, a doctorate of philosophy, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2006. [37]
As actress
As director
Year | Film | Distribution |
---|---|---|
1992 | Sofie | Pathé |
1995 | Kristin Lavransdatter | HVE Entertainment |
1996 | Private Confessions | |
2000 | Faithless | AB Svensk Filmindustri |
2014 | Miss Julie | Columbia TriStar |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1963 | Onkel Vanja | |
1965 | Smeltedigelen | Mary Warren |
1966 | En hyggelig fyr | Mabel |
Måken | Sonja | |
1967 | Cocktailselskapet | Celia |
1975 | Trollflöjten | Woman in Audience |
1979 | The Lady from the Sea | Ellida Wangel |
1983 | Jenny | Jenny Winge |
Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number | Mrs. Jacobo Timerman | |
1988 | Gli indifferenti | Maria Grazia |
1994 | Zorn | Emma Zorn |
2003 | Saraband | Marianne |
2011 | Long Day's Journey into Night | Mary Tyrone |
Year | Title | Role | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
1975 | A Doll's House | Nora Helmer | Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway |
1977 | Anna Christie | Anna Christopherson | Imperial Theatre, Broadway |
1979 | I Remember Mama | Mama | Majestic Theatre, Broadway |
1982 | Ghosts | Mrs. Helen Alving | Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway |
2019 | Liv | Herself | |
2021 | American Moth | Grieg Hall |
Honors
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". Among his most acclaimed works are 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. He was also ranked No. 8 on the magazine's 2002 "Greatest Directors of All Time" list. 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).
Max von Sydow was a Swedish 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 George Lucas's 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. The film premiered at the 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. An international co-production of Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, the film stars Renate Reinsve, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Endre Hellestveit, Thea Lambrechts Vaulen, Øystein Røger, and Vera Veljovic.
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.