Erland Josephson

The Swedish-born Erland Josephson is an internationally revered actor, expertly portraying ironic yet humane characters, who has worked with some of the world's finest filmmakers-Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Theodoros Angelopoulos. His work with Bergman is his most well-known and ranges from the director's earliest films ("It Rains on Our Love," "To Joy," "Brink of Life") to his last ("Saraband"). After working with Bergman on 1958's "The Magician," supporting film lead Max Von Sydow, Josephson returned to stage work full-time. When he returned to the screen 10 years later to again make magic with Bergman, their collaborations over the next couple of decades would produce a series of extraordinary explorations of psyches and relationships--"Hour of the Wolf," "The Passion of Anna," the Academy Award-winning "Cries and Whispers," "Scenes from a Marriage," "Fanny and Alexander," and the cathartic, thirty-years-later "Marriage" follow-up "Saraband" among many others. Josephson's work with the great, austere Russian director Tarkovsky yielded two of the director's most important later works, the poetic odyssey "Nostalghia" and the sublimely spiritual "The Sacrifice." In 1980, Josephson wrote, produced, and directed "Marmalade Revolution," a showcase drama co-starring another Bergman player, Bibi Andersson.