By John H. Foote
The great Swedish actor Max Von Sydow has died.
The man who came to fame in the works of Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman and was chosen to portray Jesus Christ in George Steven’s box office flop The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), but Von Sydow continued to work internationally. His most famous role was as Father Lankester Merin in The Exorcist (1973) for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988), with a second nomination coming for Supporting Actor in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
Most recently he appeared as the Three Eyed Raven on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Widely admired, his gentle, towering presence will be missed.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
