MAX VON SYDOW

Legendary Swedish actor Max Von Sydow lived into his 90th year. He left an incredible filmography on both sides of the Atlantic.
A fellow Swedish legend is director Ingmar Bergman, who used Von Sydow in almost every one of his iconic, if difficult, films in the 1950's and 60's. Since I find those famous films beyond my poor abilities to summarize, I’m simply going to list them and urge the serious cinephiles among you to check out one or two.
The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957) ,The Magician (1958), The Virgin Spring (1960), Through A Glass Darkly (1961) and Winter Light (1963). There’s a famous scene in Wild Strawberries that haunts me to this day. 
Von Sydow’s American movies are a little less dense but no less memorable. The best movies about immigrants in American actually aren’t American at all, they’re Swedish. Max plays hard-luck but bitterly determined Minnesota farmer Karl Oskar in The Immigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972). These two fine films are probably as close as anyone got to portraying the immigrants who tried to farm in the American midwest.. Another Swedish superstar, Liv Ulman, is on board as the wife of Karl Oskar and mother of their eight children. 
Von Sydow was still exhibiting major acting chops as late as 2018 when he appeared as Russian general Vladimir Petrenko in the splendid and moving Command.
An  internal explosion disables a Russian sub. With only hours to live, the crew waits for rescue. The British navy has the equipment and know-how to go get them, but the Russian hierarchy vacillates, worried that this would be an admission of Russian failure.
Von Sydow is Dr. Nahering in the cliffhanger Shutter Island, about the residents of a prison for the criminally insane and their care-takers. Max is in some seriously famous company in this cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson all appear in this Martin Scorcese vehicle. I cannot in good conscience divulge any more of the plot, because it has an ending that many have debated. The book is better.
In the thriller Three Days Of the Condor (1975) Von Sydow plays the villainous Joubert, an assassin and all-around bad guy. The film begins with CIA operative Robert Redford having one of the worst days at the office ever and also features Cliff Robertson and Faye Dunaway. Remindful of the Bourne movies, Redford’s character is suspected of turpitude and has to go on the run.
Not many actors would have chutzpah to play Jesus Christ, but Max Von Sydow took on the role in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and did a creditable job in a so-so religious potboiler. 
Max Von Sydow can also be seen as one of the physicians in Awakenings (1990), the film about a failed treatment for Parkinson’s disease. And he is The Renter in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) .
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.