Erland Josephson, 1923-2012

In Nostalghia, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983.

David Hudson's MUBI Notebook entry leads to several worthwhile considerations of the great, great actor. 

Comments

[Johan Andreasson]

Erland Josephson is of course mostly remembered as an actor in Ingmar Bergman films, but he also had a parallel career as a writer starting in the 1940s. He published poetry, novels, short stories, plays, children’s books and autobiographical books. And he was a film fan who loved Italian movies, and for some reason the first thing I come to think about now is Josephson introducing BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET in a series at the Stockholm Cinematheque where actors picked films that had meant a lot to them. Josephson was a very eloquent and funny man, and the film was equally entertaining. An evening well spent.

[lipranzer]

I was just watching AFTER THE REHEARSAL the other day. Not my favorite Bergman by a long shot, but even in that film, you could see Josephson and Bergman working completely in sync. When I think of the actors Bergman worked with, I either think of the women or, of course, of Max Von Sydow, but Josephson really was the unsung hero of a lot of Bergman movies, especially FACE TO FACE. R.I.P.

[warren oates]

Josephson was one of those rare great art film actors who seemed equally adept at carrying ultra-serious moods and much lighter comic moments. For me what he brought to his roles above all was a deep and grounded humanity, the very quality that allowed him to anchor the cosmic angst of Tarkovsky's final films. His passing is a huge loss.

[Stephanie]

A very great actor. So sorry to hear he had Parkinson's. RIP.