50 Fun Facts About Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman was a film and theatre director from which country?

He was born in Uppsala in 1918 and made more than 60 films and documentaries.

What was the profession of Bergman's father, Erik?

He later became chaplain to the King; Ingmar said he lost his faith at eight.

In The Seventh Seal, what game does the knight Antonius Block play against Death?

Max von Sydow's knight believes he can survive as long as the game continues.

Who played Death in The Seventh Seal?

The film's closing Dance of Death silhouette became one of cinema's most recognisable images.

How many days did Bergman have to shoot The Seventh Seal?

He rewrote the script several times and had a budget of $150,000.

On which Baltic island did Bergman live for much of his life and film many of his works from 1961 onward?

He died there in his sleep at 89 and was buried in the island's churchyard.

Which Norwegian actress was Bergman's partner from 1965 to 1970 and mother of his daughter Linn?

She was the last to join his company of regular actors and the only mother of his children he never married.

Which 1966 Bergman film stars Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann?

He later named it, with Cries and Whispers, as the film in which he pushed the envelope of filmmaking.

Which veteran Swedish director starred as the ageing professor in Wild Strawberries?

The film won the Golden Bear at Berlin and was released ten months after The Seventh Seal in 1957.

How many of Bergman's films won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film?

The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly and Fanny and Alexander were the winners.

How many Academy Awards did Fanny and Alexander win?

Its full television cut is one of the longest films ever made.

How long is the full television version of Fanny and Alexander?

It was conceived as a miniseries first and cut down for cinemas.

Which 1955 comedy was Bergman's first world success, winning a Cannes prize for 'best poetic humour'?

Its success let him push through the previously refused screenplay for The Seventh Seal.

For which film did Bergman win Best Director at Cannes in 1958?

The same year Wild Strawberries took the Golden Bear in Berlin.

Which three early-1960s films are usually grouped as Bergman's trilogy on faith and doubt?

He first denied planning them as a trilogy, then half-heartedly accepted the label.

During the making of which film did Bergman say he came to terms with having lost his faith?

He said the loss itself had happened at the age of eight.

Which colour dominates the design of Cries and Whispers?

His regular cinematographer shot it; it was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and cost about $450,000.

Who was Bergman's best-known cinematographer, later borrowed by Woody Allen for Crimes and Misdemeanors?

Their rapport let Bergman leave a shot's composition until the day before it was filmed.

What was Bergman rehearsing when arrested for tax evasion at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1976?

Two plainclothes officers took him away; he suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised.

How did the prosecutor describe the case when he dropped the charges against Bergman in March 1976?

Bergman still went into self-imposed exile in Munich and said he lost eight years of his professional life.

To which city did Bergman move in self-imposed exile after the tax affair?

He ran a theatre there from 1977 to 1984.

What was Bergman's Swiss subsidiary at the centre of the tax probe, sharing its name with a 1966 film?

It mainly paid the salaries of foreign actors; the alleged transaction was 500,000 kronor from 1970.

Which honorary Oscar did Bergman receive in 1971?

He also collected three competitive foreign-language wins for Swedish entries.

What special prize did Cannes give Bergman at its 50th anniversary in 1997?

He had never won an actual Palme d'Or despite several nominations.

For which 1944 film, directed by Alf Sjoberg, did Bergman write his first produced screenplay?

Also known as Frenzy, it sparked a debate about Swedish high schools; his old principal called him a problem child.

At what age did Bergman become the youngest theatrical manager in Europe, at Helsingborg City Theatre?

He then ran the Gothenburg city theatre from 1946 to 1949 and Malmo from 1953.

How many times was Bergman married?

Four ended in divorce; his last wife, Ingrid von Rosen, died of stomach cancer in 1995.

How many children did Bergman have in all?

He eventually married every mother of his children except one.

Which concert pianist was Bergman's fourth wife?

Their son Daniel became a film director; the marriage ran from 1959 to 1969.

Which other celebrated director died on the same day as Bergman, 30 July 2007?

Both were often called existentialist filmmakers.

What was Bergman's last film, a 2003 sequel to Scenes from a Marriage?

He announced his retirement from filmmaking that December.

With which Ibsen play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music did Bergman make his last stage production in 2003?

Todd Field recalled being invited to it by Bergman near the end of his life.

What is the title of Bergman's autobiography, published in English as The Magic Lantern?

Images: My Life in Film was his second autobiographical book.

At what age did Bergman spend a summer in Germany where he attended a Nazi rally and saw Hitler?

He admitted he was 'on Hitler's side' for years afterwards, delighted by his successes.

Which was Bergman's first English-language film, made in 1971?

The Serpent's Egg of 1977 was the second.

Which unrelated star sharing the director's surname appeared opposite Liv Ullmann in Autumn Sonata (1978)?

It was a British-Norwegian co-production made during the exile years.

Which Mozart opera did Bergman film for television in 1975?

It came two years after Scenes from a Marriage, made for television for only $200,000.

What did Bergman call himself in a 1960 TIME magazine cover story?

He directed a film called The Magician in 1958.

What did Bergman jokingly call his 'most lasting contribution to the history of theatre'?

He suffered from a nervous stomach he called 'a calamity as foolish as it is humiliating'.

Which director wrote to Bergman that his vision of life had moved him 'more deeply than any films'?

Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen have been equally effusive; Allen praises him in Annie Hall.

Where does the Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award get presented each year?

It is run with the Bergman Foundation, the estate and the Bergman Center on the island where he lived.

Which of these Bergman films was released in 1953?

Sawdust and Tinsel came out the same year; its star Harriet Andersson was his partner at the time.

In which Swedish city was Ingmar Bergman born in July 1918?

His mother Karin was a nurse of Walloon descent and his father later became chaplain to the King of Sweden.

Which Bergman film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1958?

The same year he took Best Director at Cannes for Brink of Life.

Bergman's 1960 Time cover made him the first foreign-language filmmaker on it since whom in 1936?

He referred to himself in the story as 'the conjurer'.

Which three of his own films did Bergman say he held in the highest regard, in 2004 TV interviews?

The interviews with Marie Nyreröd covered film, theatre, Fårö and his life.

Which city's municipal playhouse did Bergman run for seven years from 1953, before Dramaten in Stockholm?

Many of his regular screen actors first worked with him there on stage.

The Serpent's Egg (1977), Bergman's second English-language film, was a US co-production with which country?

His next film, Autumn Sonata, was a British-Norwegian co-production.

How many Bergman features did the Criterion Collection gather in its 2018 centenary Blu-ray box set?

The set was arranged non-chronologically and ran from the 1940s to his final film in 2003.

Which Swedish prime minister pleaded with Bergman not to abandon working in Sweden after the tax affair?

Bergman closed his Fårö studio and vowed never to work in Sweden again, though he softened by 1978.